We consider how elite European football clubs use available and measurable performance data to value personnel by focussing on the goalkeeper labour market. We test the determinants of goalkeeper p...

This paper explores the interaction of informal constraints on human behaviour by examining the evolution of English football jerseys. The jersey provides an excellent setting to demonstrate how informal constraints emerge from formal rules and shape human behaviour. Customs, approved norms and habits are all observed in this setting. The commercialisation of football in recent decades has resulted in these informal constraints, in many cases dating back over a century, co-existing with branding, goodwill and identity effects. Combined, these motivate clubs to maintain thestatus quo. As a result, club colours have remained remarkably resilient within a frequently changing landscape.

Labor economists aspire to understand how workers' productivity impacts pay. While professional football is a well-established domain to explore this relationship, so far, research has relied on basic productivity measures. Football is now awash with advanced and granular performance metrics that can allow a deeper understanding of the pay-performance relationship. We specify a salary model considering the newly available data and use sophisticated performance measures to explain contracted salaries in the English Premier League and Italian Serie A. We make a methodological breakthrough by identifying a sample of players who are in the first year of a new contract only. This results in a much tighter relationship between pay and performance. We estimate different salary equations using both basic and advanced performance statistics. Our main findings are, first, that few of our advanced performance metrics help to explain player salary and, second, that there is misalignment between individual performance determinants of team points and player salaries.JEL codes: J41, Z22

We consider how five rule changes in the League of Ireland have affected the amount of goals scored in the domestic league from 1970 to 2014. Altering the rules represents a significant departure from the previous season and changes the incentive structure for teams. Numerous individual rule changes were imposed on the league during this period, each with the intention of improving playing standards and incentivizing more attacking football. This paper describes the impact of three new points systems introduced in 1981–1982, 1982–1983 and 1993–1994, the introduction of the First Division League in 1985–1986, and the switch to a single calendar year league with a March–November schedule in 2003 known as Summer Soccer. A retrospective analysis of goals per season and single match outcomes suggests that changes to the points system have not resulted in an increase in the number of goals scored in the Premier Division, nor has the introduction of the First Division.

This paper investigates disclosure by testing if the game theoretic predictions of unravelling theory are borne out in a heretofore unstudied market. We analyse TripAdvisor disclosures from hoteliers across 22 locations (N = 4357). Contrary to theoretical predictions, we find that disclosure decreases linearly with TripAdvisor ratings. We find the same pattern of disclosure occurs when consumers know the information provider has information to disclose, and when they do not. We also find evidence suggesting the most elite hotels may disclose less. We provide practical as well as theoretical implications.