Draft Syllabus - FORG 325 Sports Fall 2017 • MWF 10-10:50 • Classroom TBA Instructor: John Alcorn • 297-2182 • [email protected] • Seabury 110 Office hours: MWF 8:30-9:30 and 1:30-2:30 and by appointment Faculty Emeritus Mentor: Frank Egan (Economics)
An introduction to social science of sports. We will focus on motivations and behaviors in sports organizations and markets. We will compare and contrast collegiate and professional sports; individual and team sports; and sports contests among nation-states. Specific topics are: nature & nurture in athletic prowess, stakeholders (athletes, fans, owners, media, and sponsors), dysfunctions (bias, corruption, discrimination, doping, & violence), & governance (informal honor codes, and the human element in refereeing). An overarching question is: What are sports for? We will review answers from various disciplines in the liberal arts, and will try and develop our own. Students will conduct policy debates. Topics of debates will include: pay-for-play for collegiate athletes, performance-enhancing drugs, and subsidies for stadiums, and refereeing by technology. There will be guest visits by experts from the field. We will have occasional discussions of ‘sports in the news’ (public controversies about our topics) in class and by forum posts at our course intranet (Moodle site).
Course requirements: • Five writing assignments. These will be a mix of online writing (e.g., blogs and forum posts) and papers (1,250 words each). Online here means an intranet that is open only to the participants in the course. • A final multimedia project. • A presentation (in rotation) about the assigned materials. • A policy debate. • A presentation about the project-in-progress. • Class participation, consisting in regular attendance and discussion, and in attendance at supplementary public lectures, which are listed on the syllabus.
Grade policy: • The cumulative score is on a scale of 100 points and may be graded on a curve. • Each of the ten requirements (5 writing assignments, 1 project, 2 presentations, 1 debate, and class participation) is worth ten percent of the course grade. • Work is graded on five criteria: (a) focus, (b) integration of assigned materials, (c) argument or analysis, (d) evidence, and (e) prose or presentation (clarity, concision, organization, polish). • A seminar is a collaborative effort in which we count on one another. Penalties apply to students who have more than 3 unexcused absences.
Purchase list. • C. T. Clotfelter, Big-time Sports in American Universities (Cambridge U. Press, 2011). • David Epstein, The Sports Gene (Current, 2014). • Tobias Moskowitz & L. Jon Wertheim, Scorecasting (Three Rivers Press, 2013). NB: Other materials on the syllabus are available at our Moodle page or at URLs.
- 1 - SYLLABUS
Athletes
1. Nature & nurture in athletic prowess
W 9/6 Epstein (2014) Barrow (2012b): http://goo.gl/nYnVzh Epstein (2013): http://goo.gl/tX7Ius News item: Pennington (2015)
F 9/8 Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 7-30 Report:
Collegiate athletics
2. Collegiate athletics
M 9/11 Clotfelter (2011) 3-68 (Part One) Report: Noll (2011b): https://goo.gl/Sf2Gk9
W 9/13 Workshop 1 - Blogging Clotfelter (2011) 68-176 (Part Two)
F 9/15 Guest: Michael Renwick (Athletics Director, Trinity) Clotfelter (2011) 177-222 (Part Three) Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 31-58
3. May collegiate athletes be professional athletes?
M 9/18 Sanderson & Siegfried (2015) Report: Cam News item: Strauss (2011)
W 9/20 Noll (2011a) Debate prep Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 59-80
F 9/22 Debate: Teams TBA Should we allow ‘pay for play’ for collegiate athletes?
Writing or media assignment due
- 2 - Professional sports
4. Individual sports
M 9/25 Noll (2007) Report:
W 9/27 Tollison (date?): http://goo.gl/LhCG0m
F 9/29 Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 81-91 Report:
5. Team sports
M 10/2 Lewis (2007): http://goo.gl/xNq60s Report:
W 10/4 Noll (2003)
F 10/6 Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 92-109 Report:
6. Sports contests among nation-states
M 10/9 Trinity Days - Classes are not in session.
W 10/11 Baade & Matheson (2016) Report: Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 110-135
F 10/13 Review session Writing or media assignment due
Dysfunctions
7. Violence. Are PEDs a dysfunction?
M 10/16 Set of readings about PEDs at Moodle Report:
W 10/18 Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 136-167 Debate prep
Debate: Teams TBA Should we allow performance-enhancing drugs?
F 10/20 Guest lecture by Sarah Connors ’18 Leeson & others (2012) Lindo & others (2015)
8. Corruption. Are public subsidies justified?
M 10/23 Noll (2010): https://goo.gl/e7nXQa Report: Coates & Humphreys (2008)
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W 10/25 Bialik (2016) Hamrick & Rasp (2013)
F 10/27 Price & Wolfers (2007) & PowerPoint Report: Wolfers & others (2014)
Governance: Informal social control
9. Bias & the human element
M 10/30 Title IX reading TBA Guest:
W 11/1 Collins (2010) Debate prep Bodner (2012) Ryall (2012) Moskowitz & Wertheim (2011) 168-229
F 11/3 Debate: Teams TBA Refereeing by technology?: Machine Accuracy vs. The Human Element
Writing or media assignment due
10. The Code
M 11/7 Munger (2013): http://goo.gl/VhPhWn Report: Dickson (2009)?
W 11/9 Ellickson (1987) Report:
F 11/11 Fink & Smith (2011)
11. Case studies of informal social control in sports
M 11/14 Friedman TBD
W 11/16 Codes in collegiate sports Report:
F 11/18 Alcorn (2017)
Writing or media assignment due
Final projects
12 - 14. Presentations of topics & drafts of final projects.
F 12/8 Roundtable - What are sports for?
- 4 - Human capital, signal, spectacle, experiment, ritual, network, tribalism, peace?
M 12/10 Review session
Final writing or media assignment is due on ?
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Assigned materials & suggested research materials
Alamar (2013). Benjamin C. Alamar, Sports Analytics (Columbia U. Press, 2013).
Andreff & Szymanski (2006). Wladimir Andreff & Stefan Szymanski, editors, Handbook on the Economics of Sport (Elgar, 2006).
Baade & Matheson (2016). Robert A. Baade & Victor A. Matheson, “Going for the gold: The economics of the Olympics,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 20:2 (Spring 2016) 201- 218.
Barrow (2012a). John D. Barrow, “Citius, altius, fortius: Records, medals, & drug-taking,” Lecture delivered at Museum of London (Gresham College, London, UK; podcast, PowerPoint, & transcript), January 17, 2012. Available online: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/citius-altius-fortius-records-medals-and- drug-taking
Barrow (2012b). John D. Barrow, “100 essential things you didn’t know you didn’t know about sport,” Lecture delivered at Barnard’s Inn Hall (Gresham College, London, UK; podcast, PowerPoint, & transcript), March 15, 2012. Available online: http://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/100-essential-things-you-didnt-know-you- didnt-know-about-sport
Belsky (2010). “Belsky on journalism, editing, and trivia,” EconTalk (podcast & transcript), May 24, 2010. Available online: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2010/05/belsky_on_journ.html
Bialik (2016). Carl Bialik, “Why betting data alone can’t identify match-fixers in tennis,” FiveThirtyEight (January 21, 2016).
Bordner (2012). S. Seth Bordner, “Call ’em as they are: What’s wrong with blown calls & what to do about them,” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 42:1 (2012) 101-120.
Chen & others (2016). Daniel Chen & others, “Decision-making under the Gambler’s Fallacy: Evidence from asylum judges, loan officers, & baseball umpires” (NBER 2016).
Coates & Humpreys (2008). Dennis Coates & Brad R. Humphreys, “Do economists reach a conclusion on subidies for sports franchises, stadiums, and mega-events?,” Econ Journal Watch 5:3 (September 2008) 294-315.
Collins (2010). Harry Collins, “The philosophy of umpiring & the introduction of decision- aid technology,” Journal of the Philosophy of Sport 37:2 (2010) 135-146.
Dickson (2009). Paul Dickson, The Unwritten Rules of Baseball (Harper Collins, 2009).
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Dimant & Deutscher (2015). Eugen Dimant & Christian Deutscher, “The economics of corruption in sports: The special case of doping” (Edmond J. Safra Research Lab, Harvard University, working paper no. 55, January 20, 2015).
Eber (2006). Nicholas Eber, “Doping,” ch. 85 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) pp. 773-783.
Ellickson (1987). Robert C. Ellickson, “A critique of economic and sociological theories of social control,” Journal of Legal Studies 16 (1987) 67-99. Available online: http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/464/
Epstein (2013). “David Epstein on the sports gene,” EconTalk (podcast & transcript), September 23, 2013. Available online: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/09/david_epstein_o.html
Epstein (2014). The Sports Gene (Current, 2014).
Fink & Smith (2011). Alexander Fink & Daniel J. Smith, “Norms in sports contests: The Tour de France,” Journal of Sports Management (2011).
Forrest (2006). David Forrest, “Sport and gambling,” ch. 4 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) pp. 40-48.
Fort & Winfree (2013). Rodney Fort & Jason Winfree, 15 Sports Myths and Why They’re Wrong (Stanford Economics & Finance, 2013).
Frank (2004). Robert H. Frank, “Challenging the myth: A review of the links among college athletic success, student quality, and donations,” Review prepared for the Knight Commission (May 2004).
Gift (2015). Paul Gift, “Sequential judgment effects in the workplace: Evidence from the National Basketball Association,” Economic Inquiry 53:2 (2015) 1259-1274.
Golf & Tollison (2009). Brian L. Goff & Robert D. Tollison, “Racial integration of coaching: Evidence from the NFL,” Journal of Sports Economics 10:2 (April 2009) 127-140.
Hamrick & Rasp (2013). Jeff Hamrick & John Rasp, “The connection between race and called strikes and balls,” Journal of Sports Economics. Published online 2013.
Hoxby (2000). Caroline M. Hoxby, “Benevolent colluders?” (Antitrust & financial aid) (NBER 2000).
Humphreys (2006). Brad R. Humphreys, “Gender discrimination,” ch. 84 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) 766-772.
Jeanrenaud (2006). Claude Jeanrenaud, “Sponsorship,” ch. 5 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) pp. 49-58.
Kahane & Schmanske (2012). Leo H. Kahane & Stephen Schmanske, editors, The Oxford handbook of sports economics, 2 volumes (Oxford U. Press, 2012).
Kahn (2012). Lawrence M. Kahn, “The economics of discrimination: Evidence from basketball,” in Kahane & Schmanske (2012), volume 2, 2:1.
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Kitchens (2014). Carl Kitchens, “Identifying changes in the spatial distribution of crime: Evidence from a referee experiment in the National Football League,” Economic Inquiry 52:1 (2014) 259-268.
Leeson & others (2012). Peter Leeson & others, “Hooligans” (MS, 2012).
Lewis (2007). “Michael Lewis on the hidden economics of baseball and football,” EconTalk (podcast & transcript), January 29, 2007. Available online: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2007/01/michael_lewis_o_1.html
Lindo (2015). Jason M. Lindo & others, “College party culture & sexual assault” (NBER 2015).
Longley (2006). Neil Longley, “Racial discrimination,” ch. 83 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) pp. 757-765.
Lowen & others (2014). Aaron Lowen, Robert O. Deaner, & Erika Schmitt, “Guys and gals going for gold: The role of women’s empowerment in Olympic success,” Journal of Sports Economics. Published online (2014).
Maennig (2006). Wolfgang Maennig, “Corruption,” ch. 86 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) pp. 784-794.
Mason (2006). David S. Mason, “Player agents,” ch. 74 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) pp. 668-76.
Mills & Fort (2014). Brian Mills & Rodney Fort, “League-level attendance & outcome uncertainty in U.S. pro sports leagues,” Economic Inquiry 52:1 (2014) 205-218.
Munger (2013). “Munger on sports, norms, rules, and the code,” EconTalk (podcast & transcript), July 1, 2013. Available online: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/07/munger_on_sport.html
Noll (2003). Roger G. Noll, “Broadcasting and team sports” (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research discussion paper no. 02-43, August 2003).
Noll (2006). Roger G. Noll, “Sports economics at fifty” (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research discussion paper no. 06-11, November 2006).
Noll (2007). Roger G. Noll, “The organization of sports leagues” (Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research discussion paper no. 06-17, February 2007).
Noll (2010). “The economics and politics of stadium subsidies in pro sports,” YouTube (Whittier College channel, video), published on November 5, 2010. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNNXqHZAzpI
Noll (2011a). Roger G. Noll, “The Antitrust economics of NCAA restrictions on athletic scholarships” (2011).
Noll (2011b). “The economics of university athletics programs,” YouTube (Armin Samii channel, video), lecture delivered on October 20, 2011 in UC Berkeley CS39Q course, published on October 25, 2011. Available online:
- 7 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GICpqYNYEFM
Noll (2012). “Roger Noll on the economics of sport,” EconTalk (podcast & transcript), August 27, 2012. Available online: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2012/08/roger_noll_on_t.html
Noll (2014). “Stanford economist Roger Noll on sports analytics,” YouTube (sundihuang channel, video), published on October 31, 2014. Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjsukOrEBAw
Parsons & others (2011). Christopher A. Parsons & others, “Strike three: Discrimination, incentives, & evaluation,” American Economic Review 101 (June 2011) 1410-1435.
Pennington (2015). Bill Pennington, “Tiny Haverford College an unlikely pipeline to Major League Baseball’s front offices,” The New York Times (July 29, 2015).
Preuss (2006). Holger Preuss, “The Olympics,” ch. 17 in Andreff & Szymanski (2006) pp. 183-196.
Price & Wolfers (2007). Joseph Price & Justin Wolfers, “Racial discrimination among NBA referees,” (IZA discussion paper no. 2863, June 2007).
Quintanar & others, “You are close to your rival and everybody hates a winner: A study of rivalry in college football,” Economic Inquiry 53:4 (2016) 1908-1918.
Rascher & Schwarz (2010). Daniel Rascher & Andrew Schwarz, “Illustrations of price discrimination in baseball,” MPRA paper 25807 (2010). Available online: http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/25807/
Robeck (2014). Volker Robeck, “Professional cycling and the fight against doping” (MACIE paper series, Marburg Centre for Institutional Economics, no. 2014/1, October 27, 2014).
Romer (2006). David Romer, “Do firms maximize?: Evidence from professional football,” Journal of Political Economy 114:2 (2006).
Ryall (2012). Emily Ryall, “Are there any good arguments against goal-line technology?,” Sport, Ethics and Philosophy 6:4 (2012) 439-450.
Sanderson (2006). Allen R. Sanderson, “Bend it like (Yogi) Berra” (2006). Available online at EconLib: http://www.econlib.org/library/Columns/y2006/Sandersonbrains.html
Sanderson & Siegfried (2015). Allen R. Sanderson & John J. Siegfried, “The case for paying college athletes,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 29:1 (Winter 2015) 115-138.
Santos (2014). Ricardo Manuel Santos, “Optimal soccer strategies,” Economic Inquiry 52:1 (2014) 183-200.
Simmons & Deutscher (2012). Rob Simmons & Christian Deutscher, “The economics of the World Cup,” in Kahane & Schmanske (2012), volume 1, 5:2.
Steinberg (2013). “Leigh Steinberg on sports, agents, and athletes,” EconTalk (podcast & transcript), March 4, 2013. Available online: http://www.econtalk.org/archives/2013/03/leigh_steinberg.html
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Strauss (2015). Benjamin Strauss, “If colleges can’t pay athletes, maybe fans can,” New York Times (11 December 2015).
Szymanksi (2003). Stefan Szymanski, “The economic design of sports contests,” Journal of Economic Literature 41 (December 2003) 1137-1187.
Tollison (date?). Robert Tollison, “Sportometrics,” Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. Available online at EconLib: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/Sportometrics.html
Van Ours & Van Tuijl (2016). Jan C. Van Ours & Martin A. Van Tuijl, “In-season head- coach dismissals & the performance of professional football [=soccer] teams,” Economic Inquiry 54:1 (2016) 591-604.
Walters (2012). Stephen J. K. Walters, “Prejudice and progress in baseball: Lessons on the economics of race and discrimination,” in Kahane & Schmanske (2012), volume 2, 1:3.
Winston (2012). Wayne L. Winston, Mathletics (Princeton U. Press, 2012).
Wolfers (2006). Justin Wolfers, “Point shaving: Corruption in NCAA basketball,” AER Papers and Proceedings 96:2 (May 2006) 279-283.
Wolfers & others (2014). Devin G. Pope, Joseph Price, & Justin Wolfers, “Awareness reduces racial bias,” (Brookings Institution, February 2014).
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