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Full-Text Articles in Behavioral Economics

Hot Boy Summer? Analyzing Managerial Reactions To Season-Long Fluctuating Player Performance In Major League Baseball, John Rodgers Hood Jan 2022

Hot Boy Summer? Analyzing Managerial Reactions To Season-Long Fluctuating Player Performance In Major League Baseball, John Rodgers Hood

Honors Projects

This paper suggests numerical weights that a Major League Baseball (MLB) manager may use when comparing player performance across multiple past performance periods to predict future performance. By the end of the MLB regular season, current season performance becomes more predictive than prior season performance for pitchers but not hitters. After estimating weights for different past time periods of performance, this paper compares the weights with how managers value performance in high-stakes situations across these same time periods. I find that MLB managers overreact to recent performance by both hitters and pitchers in postseason settings.


Technology In Major League Baseball: 2017 Houston Astros, Prisoner’S Dilemma, And Behavioral Solutions, Spencer Kinyon Apr 2020

Technology In Major League Baseball: 2017 Houston Astros, Prisoner’S Dilemma, And Behavioral Solutions, Spencer Kinyon

Honors Scholar Theses

This paper compares and contrasts the economic model for baseball in the 20th century without technology and the economic model for baseball in the 21st century with technology. Major League Baseball (MLB) teams have evolved to use technology to improve the performance of players on the field. This paper explores the economics of penalties in MLB and how teams are penalized for their use of illegal technology. In the 2017 season, the Houston Astros used illegal technology that led the team to win the World Series. This paper provides a cost-benefit analysis to determine whether or not a team should …


Taxing The Opposition: Cactus League Attendance And The Efficiency Of The 'Cubs Tax', Michael C. Davis, Craig Palsson, Joseph Price May 2013

Taxing The Opposition: Cactus League Attendance And The Efficiency Of The 'Cubs Tax', Michael C. Davis, Craig Palsson, Joseph Price

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

In 2010, a plan to finance a new spring training stadium for the Cubs through a ticket surcharge on all games in the Cactus League was proposed. We find that the Cubs increase attendance when they are the away team by about 37%. Thus, the surcharge would be economically justified as long as the price elasticity of tickets is less than 0.32, which many prior studies find to be the case. This tax provides one of the few examples in which the cost of a subsidized stadium would be born primarily by the group that benefits the most from the …


Some Professionals Play Minimax: A Reexamination Of The Minimax Theory In Major League Baseball, Jeffrey Park Jan 2010

Some Professionals Play Minimax: A Reexamination Of The Minimax Theory In Major League Baseball, Jeffrey Park

CMC Senior Theses

This paper explores the behavior of Major League Baseball pitchers. We analyze the pitching data from 2007-2010 in order to determine whether their actions follow minimax play. We also examine what the OPS statistic tells us about a pitcher's value.


Do Firms Have Short Memories? Evidence From Major League Baseball, Andrew Healy Jan 2008

Do Firms Have Short Memories? Evidence From Major League Baseball, Andrew Healy

Economics Faculty Works

When deciding what salary to offer an employee, a firm needs to predict that employee’s future productivity. One piece of information that a firm can use to predict productivity is the employee’s past performance record. Classical theory predicts that firms will effectively use the available information to choose an appropriate salary offer. Evidence from baseball contracts indicates, however, that memory-based biases influence salary offers. Consistent with insights from psychology and behavioral economics, salaries are affected too much by recent performance compared with past performance. All organizations do not suffer equally from short memories. The teams that achieve the most with …