Emotional Drinking: Surprise, Suspense, and Alcohol Use During Soccer Matches

Abstract

Emotions are supposed to significantly influence human decision-making in various domains, including bargaining behavior, intertemporal choice, as well as criminal or risky compensatory behavior. While lab evidence is abundant, field studies are limited, often with rough measures or temporal gaps between triggers and behavior. Using high-frequency beer sales, in-play match data, and betting odds in a soccer stadium, we investigate the immediate net impacts of two reference point-dependent emotions, i.e., Surprise and Suspense, on alcohol consumption. Our fine-grained analysis provides first field evidence for emotional drinking which is in line with psychological theories and might help explain existing evidence on sporting event-related violence or traffic fatalities, for instance.

Keywords: immediate emotions, alcohol consumption, in-play betting odds, reference point, surprise, suspense, emotional state, bayesian hierarchical modeling C11, D12, D91, I12

JEL Classification: C11, D12, D91, I12