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Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Gender In Jeopardy!: The Role Of Opponent Gender In High-Stakes Competition, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker Jan 2016

Gender In Jeopardy!: The Role Of Opponent Gender In High-Stakes Competition, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker

Economics Faculty Publications

Using 4,279 episodes of the popular US game show Jeopardy!, we analyze whether the opponents' gender is able to explain the gender gap in competitive behavior. Our findings indicate that gender differences disappear when women compete against men. This result is surprising, but emerges with remarkable consistency for the probability to (i) respond, (ii) respond correctly, and (iii) respond correctly in high-stakes situations. Even risk preferences in wagering decisions, where gender differences are especially pronounced, do not differ across gender once a woman competes against males. Using a fixed-effects framework, and therefore exploiting within-player …


Game, Set, And Match: Do Women And Men Perform Differently In Competitive Situations?, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker Mar 2015

Game, Set, And Match: Do Women And Men Perform Differently In Competitive Situations?, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper analyzes potential gender differences in competitive environments using a sample of over 100,000 professional tennis matches. We focus on two phenomena of the labor and sports economics literature: the hot-hand and clutch-player effects. First, we find strong evidence for the hot-hand (cold-hand) effect. Every additional win in the most recent ten Tour matches raises the likelihood of prevailing in the current encounter by 3.1 (males) to 3.3 percentage points (females). Second, top male and female players are excelling in Grand Slam tournaments, arguably the most important events in tennis. For men, we also find evidence for top players …


Crime And Natural Resource Booms: Evidence From Unconventional Natural Gas Production, Timothy M. Komarek Jan 2014

Crime And Natural Resource Booms: Evidence From Unconventional Natural Gas Production, Timothy M. Komarek

Economics Faculty Publications

The USA has experienced a sudden expansion of oil and natural gas production due to the combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. The energy extraction boom has had many localized impacts, most notably in areas with substantial shale gas reserves. This paper exploits a natural experiment in the Marcellus region to examine one channel of the so-called resource curse, the effect of resource extraction on local crime. The results show that areas experiencing a natural gas extraction boom suffer an increase in overall violent crimes, while property crimes remain similar to non-boom areas. Furthermore, the violent crime increase appears …


Baseball And Thoughts On Pay Dispersion In Teams, Kevin F. Hallock May 2013

Baseball And Thoughts On Pay Dispersion In Teams, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

The author really likes thinking about compensation, and he really likes thinking about baseball. He loves it when he can watch baseball and think about compensation. Some baseball teams pay relatively evenly across the team and others have wide dispersion (some players are paid at the league minimum and others are earning "superstar" rewards). There is research on whether teams with one of those strategies is relatively better off (in terms of, say, wins or profits) than the other, even after controlling for total payroll, players' quality and the like. A great virtue of studying baseball -- and perhaps one …


Top Athlete Pay, Kevin F. Hallock Dec 2012

Top Athlete Pay, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

The US has a history of discussing the pay of the relatively well-paid. This is partly because pay levels of some are revealed publicly (e.g., CEOs of publicly traded companies). Americans are also characterized as being celebrity-obsessed. So discussing the pay of superstars seems inevitable. However, they do not have quality data on the compensation of the relatively highly paid in many organizations and professions. When the author speaks about compensation in front of large groups, someone (and in many cases, many people) gets incensed over what they term "outrageous" or "egregious" levels of executive compensation. Athletes are rarely mentioned. …


Massive Kinked Bonuses, Kevin F. Hallock Mar 2012

Massive Kinked Bonuses, Kevin F. Hallock

Economics Faculty Publications

While most people are paid by the hour or with a yearly salary, some are also paid bonuses. And, some are paid very large, all-or-nothing bonuses. The author's favorite recent example is from last summer when golfer Darren Clarke earned a $3-million bonus from his sponsor. But it was how the payout was structured more than the amount that so intrigued him -- his sponsor's payout was all or nothing. How people are paid is fascinating. It is particularly interesting in this case of very, very large bonuses. The sports odds that Darren Clarke would win the tournament going into …


Power, Race, And The Neglect Of Science: The Hiv Epidemics In Sub-Saharan Africa, Eileen Stillwaggon, Larry Sawers Jan 2012

Power, Race, And The Neglect Of Science: The Hiv Epidemics In Sub-Saharan Africa, Eileen Stillwaggon, Larry Sawers

Economics Faculty Publications

This work addresses racial stereotyping and the effect it has in distorting AIDS policy for sub-Saharan Africa.