Prior to the ABA coming into existence in 1967, the NBA enjoyed a monopsony in the market for professional basketball talent in the United States. One would predict that a monopsony would be able to exploit the talent employed. The arrival of the ABA, though, theoretically should have...

Recent models and empirical work on network formation emphasize the importance of propinquity in producing strong interpersonal connections. Yet, one might wonder how deep such insights run, as thus far empirical results rely on survey and lab-based evidence. In this study, we examine...

In the NBA, predominantly Black players play in front of predominantly non-Black fans. Using the 'NBA bubble', a natural experiment induced by COVID-19, we show that the performance of Black players improved significantly with the absence of fans vis-à-vis White players. This is consistent with...