Wage Discrimination in US Sports: Comparative Analysis
| Thesis title in Czech: | Platová diskriminace v americkém sportu: Komparativní analýza |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Wage Discrimination in US Sports: Comparative Analysis |
| Key words: | Diskriminace, basketbal, fotbal, baseball, NBA, NFL, MLB, plat, rasismus. |
| English key words: | Discrimination, basketball, football, baseball, NBA, NFL, MLB, wage, racism. |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2017/2018 |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's thesis |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Institute of Economic Studies (23-IES) |
| Supervisor: | PhDr. Radek Janhuba, M.A., Ph.D. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned by the advisor |
| Date of registration: | 04.06.2018 |
| Date of assignment: | 04.06.2018 |
| Date and time of defence: | 10.06.2019 09:00 |
| Venue of defence: | Opletalova - Opletalova 26, O105, Opletalova - místn. č. 105 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 06.05.2019 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 10.06.2019 |
| Opponents: | Mgr. Jindřich Matoušek, Ph.D. |
| URKUND check: | |
| References |
| Fryer, R. (2010). Racial Inequality in the 21st Century: The Declining Significance of Discrimination. Handbook of Labor Economics, 4.
Ducking, J., Groothuis, P., & Hill, J. (2014). Compensation discrimination in the NFL: An analysis of career earnings. Applied Economics Letters (Vol. 21). Groothuis, P. A., & Hill, J. R. (2013). Pay Discrimination, Exit Discrimination or Both? Another Look at an Old Issue Using NBA Data. Journal of Sports Economics, 14(2), 171–185 Holmes, P. (2011). New evidence of salary discrimination in major league baseball. Labour Economics, 18(3), 320–331. Gordon, S. (2015). An Examination of Wage Discrimination in the NBA Available at: http://thesportsquotient.com/nba/2015/5/19/an-examination-of-wage-discrimination-in-the-nba The Institute for Diversity & Ethics in Sport, (2016). Available at: http://www.tidesport.org/reports.html Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., (2009): “Introductory econometrics: a modern approach.” 4th ed. Mason: Thomson/South- Western |
| Preliminary scope of work in English |
| Research question and motivation
Is there a place for wage discrimination as an example of irrational economic behavior in some of the most financially successful leagues in the world? And is there a difference in wage discrimination between leagues with African American majority (NFL, NBA) and MLB in which most teams are represented by non-African American players? (The Institute for Diversity & Ethics in Sport, 2016). The issue of salary discrimination in American sports industry is considered to be an immensely controversial topic as numerous studies conducted on the US top sports leagues provided us with fairly mixed results varying with respect to specific datasets and selected approach. The 25% premia for Hispanic and white players was revealed in the bottom quintile of MLB players (Holmes, 2011). Gordon (2015) claims that white players receive 13% higher base salary than their African American colleagues, but at the same time face a larger wage penalty when providing sub-average results. However, Hill et al (2014) based on NFL data concludes that players’ career earnings are determined solely by their performance and not their race. As the evidence is mixed, a proper analysis of the latest data could help us understand the phenomenon of salary discrimination in the US sports industry. Contribution Recent research on wage discrimination in American professional sports leagues analyzed each league specifically. Applying the same methodology over multiple leagues at the same time we will perform a comparative analysis and consolidate the previous studies on the topic. We will investigate the tendency of wage discrimination across several major US sports leagues and try to reveal the pattern in the employers’ behavior. Methodology Our analysis will rely on open data from MLB, NFL and NBA players’ wages and crucial performance statistics from the last seasons. For the purposes of our study we will create specific datasets relating to each league. In the theoretical part of our research we will review the existing literature on the topic in order to compare the previous results with the inference derived from our model. The empirical part of the research will be provided using econometric analysis applied on our datasets. Outline 1. Introduction 2. Literature Review 3. Theoretical Background 4. Data 5. Methodology and Model 6. Results 7. Conclusion |