nep-spo New Economics Papers
on Sports and Economics
Issue of 2024‒04‒29
five papers chosen by
Humberto Barreto, DePauw University


  1. Anticipatory Gains and Event-Driven Losses in Blockchain-Based Fan Tokens: Evidence from the FIFA World Cup By Aman Saggu; Lennart Ante; Ender Demir
  2. Elimination tournaments with resource constraints By Nicolas de Roos; Alexander Matros; Vladimir Smirnov
  3. Teamwork and Spillover Effects in Performance Evaluations By Enzo Brox; Michael Lechner
  4. Beliefs That Entertain By Gandhi, Ashvin; Giuliano, Paola; Guan, Eric; Keefer, Quinn; McDonald, Chase; Pagel, Michaela; Tasoff, Joshua
  5. Soccer & Economics / Fútbol y economía / Futbol i economia By Francesc Trillas; Andrew Zimbalist; Thomas Peeters; Jan Cornelis Van Ours; Julio del Corral

  1. By: Aman Saggu; Lennart Ante; Ender Demir
    Abstract: National football teams increasingly issue tradeable blockchain-based fan tokens to strategically enhance fan engagement. This study investigates the impact of 2022 World Cup matches on the dynamic performance of each team's fan token. The event study uncovers fan token returns surged six months before the World Cup, driven by positive anticipation effects. However, intraday analysis reveals a reversal of fan token returns consistently declining and trading volumes rising as matches unfold. To explain findings, we uncover asymmetries whereby defeats in high-stake matches caused a plunge in fan token returns, compared to low-stake matches, intensifying in magnitude for knockout matches. Contrarily, victories enhance trading volumes, reflecting increased market activity without a corresponding positive effect on returns. We align findings with the classic market adage "buy the rumor, sell the news, " unveiling cognitive biases and nuances in investor sentiment, cautioning the dichotomy of pre-event optimism and subsequent performance declines.
    Date: 2024–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.15810&r=spo
  2. By: Nicolas de Roos; Alexander Matros; Vladimir Smirnov
    Abstract: We consider T -round elimination tournaments where players have fixed and equal endowments. We establish conditions for the existence and uniqueness of a symmetric equilibrium for a general class of elimination tournaments. We provide examples illustrating the existence of multiple equilibria. Additionally, we show how equilibrium depends on the prizes scheme, and demonstrate that the winner-take-all prize scheme ensures equal resource allocation across all rounds.
    Keywords: Elimination tournaments; Fixed resources.
    Date: 2024–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:syd:wpaper:2024-06&r=spo
  3. By: Enzo Brox; Michael Lechner
    Abstract: This article shows how coworker performance affects individual performance evaluation in a teamwork setting at the workplace. We use high-quality data on football matches to measure an important component of individual performance, shooting performance, isolated from collaborative effects. Employing causal machine learning methods, we address the assortative matching of workers and estimate both average and heterogeneous effects. There is substantial evidence for spillover effects in performance evaluations. Coworker shooting performance, meaningfully impacts both, manager decisions and third-party expert evaluations of individual performance. Our results underscore the significant role coworkers play in shaping career advancements and highlight a complementary channel, to productivity gains and learning effects, how coworkers impact career advancement. We characterize the groups of workers that are most and least affected by spillover effects and show that spillover effects are reference point dependent. While positive deviations from a reference point create positive spillover effects, negative deviations are not harmful for coworkers.
    Date: 2024–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.15200&r=spo
  4. By: Gandhi, Ashvin (NBER); Giuliano, Paola (University of California, Los Angeles); Guan, Eric (Riot Games); Keefer, Quinn (California State University San Marcos); McDonald, Chase (Riot Games); Pagel, Michaela (NBER); Tasoff, Joshua (Claremont Graduate University)
    Abstract: Economic research on entertainment is scant despite its large share of time use. We test economic theories of belief-based utility in the context of video-game engagement. Using data on 2.8 million matches from League of Legends, we find evidence supporting reference-dependent preferences, loss aversion, preferences for surprise and suspense, preferences for clumped surprise, and flow theory from psychology. We then leverage our estimated model and an evolutionary algorithm to find the information-revealing process that maximizes player engagement. We find that the optimal version of the game has increased game play equivalent to 43% of the winner-loser gap.
    Keywords: belief-based utility, reference-dependent utility, suspense and surprise, loss aversion, video games, entertainment design
    JEL: D8 D9
    Date: 2024–03
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16877&r=spo
  5. By: Francesc Trillas (Institut d’Economia de Barcelona (IEB) / Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); Andrew Zimbalist (Harvard University); Thomas Peeters (Erasmus School of Economics / Tinbergen Institute / Erim / ECASE); Jan Cornelis Van Ours (Erasmus School of Economics / University of Melbourne / Tinbergen Institute / CEPR / ECASE); Julio del Corral (Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha)
    Date: 2023
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:report:ieb_report_1_2023&r=spo

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