About this Research Topic
We see this as a problem, which is probably holding back a greater quantity and quality of effort toward exploiting the brilliant natural experiments offered by sports, to test theories of behavioral microeconomics. We envisage three possible solutions:
1) More common application of the latest advances in empirical methods, particularly from the ‘causal inference revolution’, to unlock more natural experiments and convince that the findings are robustly identified and carefully interpreted.
2) Parallel or comprehensive study of the variety around sports (e.g., the diversity of gender, culture, age, and background of the agents involved), to explore the generality or diversity of effects, and how these then match the predictions of behavioral models. Many good studies are being published (and probably many not published), but, in our view, the subjects often appear selective or restricted for no good reason. For example, Sports Economics does not especially need another paper on the effect of social pressure from crowds (e.g., closed doors or “Ghost Games” during Covid-19) on referee bias in country X, period Y, and sport Z. Instead, it may be better off reflecting more on why even carefully identified causal effects can differ markedly in their size, direction, and statistical significance, as X, Y, and Z all vary from one study to the next. Thus, we believe that aggregating, comparing, and interpreting results, across different countries, periods, and sports, will generate more generalizable behavioral insights.
3) Replication studies.
This call seeks both short (0-4,000 words, excluding tables, references, etc.) and longer papers (4,000-10,000 words), which can speak to one or more of these three solutions. While looking forward to receiving analyses of new natural experiments from sports, we are especially keen to publish robust work which addresses (2) and (3):
i) Studies which compare the findings from natural experiments across multiple sports, types of contestants, country, culture, etc. Where substantial differences are found, we would encourage researchers to explore or characterize them according to economic, psychological, or general behavioral theories. If this turns out to be impossible or not convincing, we also look forward to papers that present puzzling findings.
ii) (Quasi) Replication studies of any kind, for relatively recent or well-known economics studies, published in peer reviewed journals, that have used sports data. If datasets can be extended, and the original findings tested over broader periods or settings, then this is even better. We do not want to only publish studies that discover issues with the original findings – confirmatory results are equally good.
Keywords: Natural Experiments, Behavioral Economics, Economic Psychology, Replication, Sports Economics
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.