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on Sports and Economics |
| By: | Guajardo, Mario (Dept. of Business and Management Science, Norwegian School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | In many international sports tournaments, teams are divided into groups that contest a first stage competition typically structured as a single round robin within each group, with matches held across a shared set of venues. The first aim of this paper is to define a problem and model for this tournament structure, where the central decisions concern the assignment of matches to dates and venues. The resulting formulation can be classified as a multi league scheduling problem with shared venues and incorporates key practical considerations observed in real competitions. The second aim is to employ this model to examine the schedules of UEFA Euro 2024 and the FIFA World Cup 2026, with particular emphasis on the minimization of travel distances. Both UEFA and FIFA have publicly stated that reducing travel for teams and fans was an important priority when designing their tournament schedules. To evaluate these claims, an integer programming model is developed that minimizes travel distances subject to operational constraints, and its optimal solutions are compared with the official schedules. Running the model in a restrictive setting, with parameters following what is observed in the official schedules, suggests that the schedule for the FIFA World Cup is highly efficient, deviating by only about 1% from the optimal solution. In contrast, the schedule implemented for UEFA Euro is approximately 9% above the minimum distance solution. In a more flexible setting—while still closely resembling actual features—the model finds solutions that reduce travel distances by 14–18% compared to the official schedules. The paper also analyzes the trade-off between minimizing total travel distance and balancing differences in travel distances among teams of the same group. In particular, for the FIFA World Cup 2026, the paper also examines the potential for reducing the number and magnitude of time zone shifts experienced by teams between matches. |
| Keywords: | Sports scheduling; Travel distances; FIFA World Cup; UEFA Euro; Fairness |
| JEL: | C40 C44 C60 |
| Date: | 2026–05–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhhfms:2026_003 |
| By: | Guang Cheng; Jiaxin Yang; Haoxuan Zou |
| Abstract: | While decentralized prediction markets like Polymarket have gained significant traction, their market microstructure and high-frequency pricing efficiency remain underexplored. This paper conducts a systematic empirical analysis of algorithmic arbitrage within Polymarket's NBA game markets. By reconstructing continuous market states from over 75 million limit order book snapshots across 173 games, we evaluate the frequency, duration, and profitability of both single-market and combinatorial arbitrage opportunities. Our findings demonstrate profound microstructural efficiency. Single-market anomalies are exceedingly rare, yielding only 7 executable in-game episodes that persist for a median duration of just 3.6 seconds. Combinatorial inefficiencies are more frequent, producing 290 active episodes overwhelmingly concentrated in the final minutes of live play. While combinatorial execution yields a statistically meaningful median return of 101 basis points, we find that the theoretical "Middle" jackpot is never empirically realized. Furthermore, execution is severely bottlenecked by shallow order book depth, with 76.9\% of combinatorial opportunities constrained to an average executable size of just 14.8 shares. Ultimately, while executable mispricings exist, they are structurally bounded by liquidity, confining risk-free extraction strictly to the retail scale. |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2605.00864 |
| By: | Tibor Szendrei; Arnab Bhattacharjee; Adrian Pabst; Katherine Simpson; Jingyi Gu; Graeme Roy; Emma McIntosh; Heather Wardle |
| Abstract: | The 2023 White Paper High Stakes: Gambling Reform for the Digital Age proposed a series of enhanced regulatory measures for gambling, which are projected to reduce Gross Gambling Yield (GGY): the amount of money retained by the gambling industry after paying out winnings:by approximately £812 million. This means that net spending on gambling by consumers is estimated to fall by £812 million as a result of new measures brought in by the government. We use this projected impact on GGY to estimate the net economic impact of the reduced gambling expenditure. To do this, we survey a sample of people who regularly gamble, asking how they would reallocate their spending if they could no longer spend as much on gambling. We then use these responses to model the broader macroeconomic effects of reported shifts in spending. |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:niesrd:577 |
| By: | Fang, Ximeng; Innocenti, Stefania; Vogt, Sonja (Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne) |
| Abstract: | Scalable behavioural interventions often struggle to engage the cognitive and psychological mechanisms that underlie durable changes in preferences and habits. This study provides a proof of concept for an underexplored intervention format: edutainment through video games. Partnering with a large video game company, we develop a game that embeds educational content on sustainable food consumption into an entertaining storyline. In a pre-registered field experiment (N = 4, 034 UK adults), participants are randomly assigned to play either one of three treatment versions of the game or a control version without environmental content. Real-world food choice behaviour is measured through incentivised online supermarket tasks. Relative to the control group, treated participants select grocery baskets with 20% lower environmental impact immediately after gameplay, an effect that remains at 8–10% in a follow-up 2–3 weeks later. Behavioural change results from a combination of knowledge gains, short-term salience and preference change. Strikingly, effects were particularly persistent among subjects with low baseline sustainability. Further evidence suggests that the intervention was effective partly because it provided an enjoyable experience and affected a rich set of beliefs and attitudes, including personal norms, efficacy, and perceived social norms. |
| Date: | 2026–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amz:wpaper:2026-13 |
| By: | Christos Genakos; Eleni Kyrkopoulou; Elias Papaioannou |
| Abstract: | We use a unique natural experiment in which families were randomly selected to live in the Olympic Village, constructed for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, to assess the impact of improved neighbourhood conditions on academic achievement. Comparing 12-17-year-old students who relocated and attended the new schools with non-selected applicants from the same origin schools across Attica, we find a positive, gender-neutral, and significant effect of moving on overall performance. Educational gains, primarily in language courses, are concentrated among students who previously performed poorly, indicating a "fresh start" effect. |
| Keywords: | social experiment, housing, neighborhoods, neighbourhoods, peer effects, education |
| Date: | 2026–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp2175 |