Economics of Sport

Introduction

The unique configurations of individual and team incentives and the interactions between co-operative and competitive modes of behaviour that professional team sports tend to generate, make this particularly fertile territory in which to explore the perennial questions about incentives, effort, risk and reward which lie at the heart of all areas of economic inquiry. Academic interest in the economics of sport dates back to the mid-1950s since when hundreds of books and academic articles have been published on the subject.

Current research includes:

• modelling the incidence of disciplinary sanction in the English Premier League
• examining patterns of managerial employment and re-employment in English football
• modelling runs scored and wickets lost in test match cricket
• measurement of and effects of changes in competitive balance in New Zealand rugby union: the NPC and Super 12
• the effects of ethnic composition on volatility of performance and competitive balance in New Zealand rugby union
• re-examining the anglocentric hypothesis of positional stacking/occupation discrimination in New Zealand rugby union
• examination of convergence in performance in test match cricket

Collaborating institutions include the Universities of Wales (Bangor), Bath and New Brunswick.

The research area is coordinated by Stephen Dobson

• Selected Publications

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