Tournament theory (Lazear and Rosen, 1981) predicts that effort supplied in contests varies with the incentive structure. Previous research finds that outcomes in individual and team sports events reflect variable effort supply by contestants. We develop evidence that a market-based measure of...

Mixed evidence exists on the relationship between arrest and labor market outcomes such as employment and earnings. We analyze the effect of arrest on earnings in a sample of National Football League players who were arrested between 2000 and 2009. We use propensity score matching to construct a...

Corruption in sports represents an important challenge to their integrity. Corruption can take many forms, including match fixing by players, referees, or team officials. Match fixing can be difficult to detect. We use a unique data set to analyze variation in bet volume on Betfair, a major...

The number of people consuming sporting events has long interested economists. Although imperfect, it is a measure of the demand for a ‘peculiar’ type of good or service — the sporting event. It also provides some measure of the social pressure on individuals performing. That pressure can...