A Market Test for Discrimination in the English Professional Soccer Leagues

This paper proposes a market test for racial discrimination in salary setting in English league soccer over the period 1978–93 using a balanced panel of 39 clubs. If there is a competitive market for the services of players, the wage bill of the club will reflect their productivity and hence the per...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of political economy Vol. 108; no. 3; pp. 590 - 603
Main Author Szymanski, Stefan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chicago The University of Chicago Press 01.06.2000
University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago, acting through its Press
Subjects
Athletic competition
Black athletes
Collective bargaining
Discrimination
Earnings
Economic competition
Economic models
Economic theory
Employment discrimination
Equal pay
Expenditures
Human capital
Market
Noncitizens
Payroll costs
Political economy
Population
Productivity
Professional soccer
Profits
Racial discrimination
Regression analysis
Soccer
Sports (soccer)
Sports clubs
Statistical analysis
Studies
Teams
United Kingdom
Wages
Wages & salaries
United Kingdom > UK
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Summary:This paper proposes a market test for racial discrimination in salary setting in English league soccer over the period 1978–93 using a balanced panel of 39 clubs. If there is a competitive market for the services of players, the wage bill of the club will reflect their productivity and hence the performance of the club in the league. Discrimination can be said to exist if clubs fielding an above‐average proportion of black players systematically outperform clubs with a below‐average proportion of black players, after one controls for the wage bill. Statistically significant evidence of discrimination in this sense is found.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:0022-3808
1537-534X
DOI:10.1086/262130