What Can We Learn About Economics from Sport during COVID-19?

Abstract

The economics of sport and how sport provides insights into economics have experienced exogenous shocks from COVID-19, facilitating many natural experiments. These have provided partial answers to questions of: how airborne viruses may spread in crowds; how crowds respond to the risk and information about infection; how the absence of crowds may affect social pressure and arbitration decisions; and how quickly betting markets respond to new information. We review this evidence and advise how sports economics research could continue to be most valuable to policymakers.

Keywords: Sports Economics, Coronavirus, Natural Experiments, Referee Bias, Social Pressure, Prediction Markets

JEL Classification: D91, L83, Z20