The Size and Scope of the Sports Industry in the United States

We estimate the economic scope of the sports industry in the United States. Drawing on a variety of data sources, we investigate the economic size of sport participation, sports viewing, and the supply and demand side of the sports market in the United States. Estimates of the size of the sports industry based on aggregate demand and aggregate supply range from $44 to$73 billion in 2005. In addition, participation in sports and the opportunity time cost of attending sporting events are important, but hard to value, components of the industry.sports economics

The Economics of Participation and Time Spent in Physical Activity

This paper examines the economics of participation in physical activity by developing a consumer choice model of participation and estimating it using data drawn from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). Both emphasize that individuals face two distinct decisions: (1) should I participate; and (2) how much time should I spend participating? The results indicate that economic factors like income and opportunity cost of time are important determinants of physical activity and that physical activity is a normal good. Individual characteristics also play an important role in determining the amount of time spent in physical activity. Participation and time spent decline with age. Females, married people, households with children, blacks and hispanics all spend less time engaged in physical activity than males, single people, childless households and whites. Public policy interventions aimed at improving physical activity of Americans targeted to specific sub-populations are likely to be more effective than broad-based policies.time allocation; physical activity; sport participation

Tit-for-tat Strategies in Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma Games: Evidence from NCAA Football

Defection in every period is the dominant strategy Nash equilibrium in finitely repeated prisoner's dilemma games with complete information. However, in the presence of incomplete information, players may have an incentive to cooperate in some periods, leading to tit-for-tat strategies. We describe the decision to comply with recruiting regulations or cheat made by NCAA Division IA football programs as a finitely repeated prisoner's dilemma game. The game includes incomplete information about the resources devoted to football programs, the recruiting effort made by rival programs, and the behavior of rival programs. We test for evidence that NCAA Division IA football programs follow tit-for-tat strategies in terms of complying with or defecting from NCAA recruiting rules using panel data from NCAA Division IA football over the period 1976-2005. We find anecdotal and empirical evidence that is consistent with tit-for-tat strategies in this setting. The presence of in-conference rivals under NCAA sanctions increases the probability of a team being placed under sanctions.noncooperative behavior; cartels; NCAA football; tit-for-tat strategies

The Effect of Gambling on Health: Evidence from Canada

The relationship between gambling and health has important economic and public policy implications. We develop causal evidence about the relationship between recreational gambling and health using data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) cycles 2.1, 3.1 and 4.1. Recreational gamblers are gamblers who are classifi ed as "non-problem" gamblers according to the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI). Gambling is treated as an endogenous regressor in the health equations. The results of instrumental variable and bivariate probit models of participation in gambling and health outcomes indicate that recreational gambling has either no or a negative impact on the probability of having certain chronic conditions. These results diff er from studies that find a positive association between problem gambling and adverse health outcomes. Exogeneity tests suggest that gambling is endogenous; hence, empirical methods that address endogeneity are necessary to develop causal evidence of a relationship between gambling and health.health; government policy; sports; gambling; recreation; tourism

The Economic Choice of Participation and Time Spent in Physical Activity and Sport in Canada

The health benefits of participation in physical activity are well documented, yet the prevalence of meeting physical activity guidelines remains low. We examine the determinants of participation in physical activity in Canada by estimating double hurdle models of participation and time spent using data from the 2001 Canadian Community Health Survey (CHHS). We find higher income is associated with a higher probability of participating and less time spent in widely practiced sports like running and swimming, but the size of the income e ffect is relatively small. The hourly wage is generally positive and significant in both the participation and time spent equations suggesting a dominating income eff ect. Distinguishing between the extensive and intensive margins of the participation decision is important for untangling the eff ects of income, age, gender and family structure on these choices.sport participation; physical activity; time allocation; opportunity cost of time

Economic Determinants of Participation in Physical Activity and Sport

This paper examines the economic determinants of participation in physical activity by developing and analyzing a consumer choice model of participation and by testing the predictions of this model using data drawn from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance Survey (BRFSS). Both emphasize that individuals face two distinct decisions: (1) should I participate in sport?; and (2) how much time should I spend participating in sport? The evidence highlights the importance of selectivity. The economic factors that affect these two decisions work in opposite directions; factors that increase the likelihood of participation generally decrease the amount of time spent participating.physical activity, time allocation, health production

Physical Activity and Health Outcome: Evidence from Canada

Health production models include participation in physical activity as an input. We investigate the relationship between participation in physical activity and health using a bivariate probit model. Participation is identifi ed with an exclusion restriction on a variable reflecting sense of belonging to the community. Estimates based on data from Cycle 3.1 of the Canadian Community Health Survey indicate that participation in physical activity reduces the reported incidence of diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, asthma, and arthritis as well as being in fair or poor health. Increasing the intensity and frequency of participation in physical activity appears to have a diminishing marginal impact on adverse health outcomes above the moderate level.health production; physical activity; lifestyle choices; bivariate probit

Competition in Canadian Health Care Service Provision: Good, Bad or Indifferent?

Most provincial health care systems in Canada combine public, private non-profit, and private for-profit delivery. In Alberta, the Health Care Protection Act , known as Bill 11, allows the public to purchase certain insured surgical services from private providers. This legislation sparked a heated and ongoing debate in Canada about the role of competition in health care service delivery. The key question asked is what can be gained from introducing competition among hospital and physician services while maintaining a public payment system. This paper evaluates what has been learned from the recent literature on competition in health care markets in the context of expanding the role of the private sector in Alberta. The evidence does not provide a definitive answer. Competition introduced by an expanded private sector is likely to be beneficial on some measures, indifferent on others, but not likely bad

Modeling the University Decision Process: The Effects of Faculty Participation in University Decision Making

This paper develops models of decision making in a university setting with and without faculty participation. The models predict values for the level of services or programs offered and the quality of those services in a university setting for either private nonprofit or public universities. These predictions indicate conditions under which outcomes are similar or differ with faculty participation in the decision process. The model predicts that without shared governance that universities may overinvest in non-academic quality (e.g. athletics, recreational activities). This would be exacerbated in for-profit forms of higher education. Notably, nonprofit and/or public institutions are not inefficient relative to for-profit institutions, which questions the rationale for subsidies to for-profit institutions. If academic quality provides positive externalities as has been suggested in the literature, then shared governance may be socially preferred to university decision making without faculty involvement.higher education, faculty governance, university decision making, incentives, nonprofit organization, public organization, organizational behavior