Cross-Dressing in Taiwanese Dramas: A Reinforcement of Heteronormativity

An examination of temporary cross-dressing in Taiwanese romantic comedy dramas that seeks to analyze how gender, sexuality and romance are portrayed. The following discourses will be used to demonstrate how these dramas often support heteronormative ideals: the absurdity of gender, the utilitarian cross-dresser, the idea of the true (bio)gender, the eroticization of the female body, the bivalent kiss, the Sexuality Crisis Bro trope, \u27gender does not matter\u27 as romance, and relationship dynamics

Competitive balance in sports leagues and the paradox of power

It is generally thought that competitive equilibrium in sports leagues involves too little competitive balance (the strong dominate the weak too much- a more even contest would be more attractive). However, it is possible to sow in a standard logit contest model that the reverse is true – the strong do not win “enough”- i.e. more wins by the strong team would increase attendance or revenues. This is consistent with Hirshleifer’s paradox of power. However, this is only true so long as the strong do not become too dominant- otherwise the regime switches to one of pre-emption: the strong never lose. This paper identifies the conditions under which the paradox of power and pre-emption will manifest themselves.

The Champions League and the Coase Theorem

The Coase Theorem is both one of the simplest and most profound ideas in economics. Coase’s insight was first expressed in print as a theorem by George Stigler, following the publication of the famous article “The Problem of Social Cost” by Nobel Laureate Ronald Coase (1960). Stigler stated it thus: “with zero transactions costs, private and social costs will be equal”. In this paper the Coase Theorem is approached through the medium of a sports league. While Coase’s article dates from 1960, a colleague at Chicago University published a discussion of the market for baseball players in 1956 which almost completely anticipates the more famous paper (Rottenberg (1956)).Coase

Tilting the Playing Field: Why a sports league planner would choose less, not more, competitive balance

It has traditionally been argued that the organizer of a sports league would prefer more competitive balance to the level that emerges in a noncooperative equilibrium. This argument has been used to justify restraints on competition between teams, which also tend to raise profits at the expense of players and consumers. This paper shows that in theory a planner would prefer less, not more, competitive balance. The paper uses data from Major League Baseball to show just how unbalanced a league planner would choose.competitive balance, sports leagues, baseball