Profitable Biases: Star Favoritism in the NBA
Date Issued
2014
Date
2014
Author(s)
Pan, Chun-Hung
Abstract
In forensic economics, economic analysis uncovers evidence of hidden behavior in a variety of domains, and sports-judging is one of the topics. On the other hand, the NBA is a good place to assess discrimination: referees and players are involved in repeated interactions, with referee making decisions that might allow implicit biases to become evident.
In the summer of 2007, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was found to have bet on games that he officiated. Donaghy subsequently alleged that referee biases are rampant throughout the league. The scandal created widespread speculation about the legitimacy of controversial games in recent history, though former NBA Commissioner David Stern vehemently that Donaghy was an isolated individual in his deviance.
This paper empirically examines whether there is evidence of referee biases by investigating through analysis of two main statistical categories, discretionary turnovers and non-discretionary turnovers. Furthermore, the scandal in the summer of 2007 allows me to conduct a Difference-in-Differences model. The results provide evidence that referee biases indeed exist, including referees significantly favor toward star players, home teams, and teams losing in playoff series.
Subjects
歧視經濟學
NBA
forensic economics
裁判偏誤
Difference-in-Differences
Type
thesis
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