IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v98y2022i321p166-190.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Superstar Productivity and Pay: Evidence from the Australian Football League

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick J. Ferguson
  • Matthew Pinnuck

Abstract

We use game‐level data from the Australian Football League (AFL) to examine superstar workers' productivity and pay. By exploiting teams' injury‐induced line‐up changes between games, we show that, compared with replacement‐level players, superstars increase their teams' likelihood of winning away games by approximately 15 percentage points. While we then show that betting markets appear to appropriately price superstars' marginal productivity, we present back‐of‐the‐envelope calculations that suggest that teams underpay superstar players by at least 30 per cent. We discuss how inaccurate performance evaluations, labour market regulations, long‐term back‐loaded contracts, clubs' attempts to reduce harmful intra‐team pay disparities and on‐field success as a form of payment‐in‐kind may explain our findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick J. Ferguson & Matthew Pinnuck, 2022. "Superstar Productivity and Pay: Evidence from the Australian Football League," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 98(321), pages 166-190, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:98:y:2022:i:321:p:166-190
    DOI: 10.1111/1475-4932.12665
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-4932.12665
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1475-4932.12665?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xavier Gabaix & Augustin Landier, 2008. "Why has CEO Pay Increased So Much?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(1), pages 49-100.
    2. Lazear, Edward P, 1981. "Agency, Earnings Profiles, Productivity, and Hours Restrictions," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(4), pages 606-620, September.
    3. Hopkins, Ed & Kornienko, Tatiana, 2009. "Status, affluence, and inequality: Rank-based comparisons in games of status," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 67(2), pages 552-568, November.
    4. Henry Eyring & Patrick J. Ferguson & Sebastian Koppers, 2021. "Less Information, More Comparison, and Better Performance: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 657-711, May.
    5. David Card & Alexandre Mas & Enrico Moretti & Emmanuel Saez, 2012. "Inequality at Work: The Effect of Peer Salaries on Job Satisfaction," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2981-3003, October.
    6. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate, 2009. "Superstar CEOs," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1593-1638.
    7. Robert Breunig & Bronwyn Garrett-Rumba & Mathieu Jardin & Yvon Rocaboy, 2014. "Wage dispersion and team performance: a theoretical model and evidence from baseball," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(3), pages 271-281, January.
    8. David J. Berri & Martin B. Schmidt & Stacey L. Brook, 2004. "Stars at the Gate," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 5(1), pages 33-50, February.
    9. Scully, Gerald W, 1974. "Pay and Performance in Major League Baseball," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(6), pages 915-930, December.
    10. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    11. Tran, Anh & Zeckhauser, Richard, 2012. "Rank as an inherent incentive: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(9-10), pages 645-650.
    12. Eyring, Henry & Ferguson, Patrick J. & Koppers, Sebastian, 2021. "Less information, more comparison, and better performance: evidence from a field experiment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 109789, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Trung Minh Dang & Ross Booth & Robert Brooks & Adi Schnytzer, 2015. "Do TV Viewers Value Uncertainty of Outcome? Evidence from the Australian Football League," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 91(295), pages 523-535, December.
    14. DepkenII, Craig A., 2000. "Wage disparity and team productivity: evidence from major league baseball," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 87-92, April.
    15. Eyring, Henry & Ferguson, Patrick J. & Koppers, Sebastian, 2021. "Less information, more comparison, and better performance: evidence from a field experiment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 111032, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    16. William Greene, 2004. "The behaviour of the maximum likelihood estimator of limited dependent variable models in the presence of fixed effects," Econometrics Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 7(1), pages 98-119, June.
    17. Bishop, John, 1987. "The Recognition and Reward of Employee Performance," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(4), pages 36-56, October.
    18. Xavier Gabaix, 2016. "Power Laws in Economics: An Introduction," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(1), pages 185-206, Winter.
    19. Julian Blackham & Bruce Chapman, 2004. "The Value Of Don Bradman: Additional Revenue In Australian Ashes Tests," Economic Papers, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 23(4), pages 369-385, December.
    20. Horrace, William C. & Oaxaca, Ronald L., 2006. "Results on the bias and inconsistency of ordinary least squares for the linear probability model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 321-327, March.
    21. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2007. "Markets: Cartel Behavior and Amateurism in College Sports," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 209-226, Winter.
    22. Wen-Jhan Jane, 2016. "The Effect of Star Quality on Attendance Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(4), pages 396-417, May.
    23. Claudio Lucifora & Rob Simmons, 2003. "Superstar Effects in Sport," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 4(1), pages 35-55, February.
    24. Brad R. Humphreys & Candon Johnson, 2020. "The Effect of Superstars on Game Attendance: Evidence From the NBA," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(2), pages 152-175, February.
    25. R. Todd Jewell, 2017. "The Effect of Marquee Players on Sports Demand," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(3), pages 239-252, April.
    26. Murphy, Kevin J. & Jensen, Michael C., 2018. "The Politics of Pay: The Unintended Consequences of Regulating Executive Compensation," Journal of Law, Finance, and Accounting, now publishers, vol. 3(2), pages 189-242, December.
    27. Hausman, Jerry A & Leonard, Gregory K, 1997. "Superstars in the National Basketball Association: Economic Value and Policy," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(4), pages 586-624, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Fabienne Jedelhauser & Raphael Flepp & Egon Franck, 2023. "Overshadowed by Popularity: The Value of Second-Tier Stars in European Football," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(8), pages 1026-1054, December.
    2. Patrick J. Ferguson & Karim R. Lakhani, 2023. "Consuming Contests: The Effect of Outcome Uncertainty on Spectator Attendance in the Australian Football League," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 99(326), pages 410-435, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chmait, Nader & Robertson, Sam & Westerbeek, Hans & Eime, Rochelle & Sellitto, Carmine & Reid, Machar, 2020. "Tennis superstars: The relationship between star status and demand for tickets," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 330-347.
    2. Johan Rewilak, 2023. "The Designated Player Policy Rule and Attendance Demand in Major League Soccer," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(4), pages 475-496, May.
    3. Scott M. Kaplan, 2022. "Putting a price on popularity: Evidence from superstars in the National Basketball Association," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1357-1381, July.
    4. Michael R. Ward & Alexander D. Harmon, 2019. "ESport Superstars," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(8), pages 987-1013, December.
    5. Brian M. Mills, 2017. "Policy Changes In Major League Baseball: Improved Agent Behavior And Ancillary Productivity Outcomes," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 55(2), pages 1104-1118, April.
    6. Leif Brandes & Egon Franck & Stephan Nuesch, 2006. "Local Heroes and Superstars - An Empirical Analysis of Star Attraction in German Soccer," Working Papers 0007, University of Zurich, Center for Research in Sports Administration (CRSA), revised 2007.
    7. Brad R. Humphreys & Candon Johnson, 2020. "The Effect of Superstars on Game Attendance: Evidence From the NBA," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 21(2), pages 152-175, February.
    8. Budzinski, Oliver & Feddersen, Arne & Kunz-Kaltenhäuser, Philipp, 2022. "Demand for TV broadcasts of UEFA Champions League games in Danish television - The impact of uncertainty of outcome, stardom, and local heroes," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 165, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.
    9. Leif Brandes & Egon Franck & Stephan Nüesch, 2008. "Local Heroes and Superstars," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(3), pages 266-286, June.
    10. Brad Humphreys & Candon Johnson, 2017. "The Effect of Superstar Players on Game Attendance: Evidence from the NBA," Working Papers 17-16, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    11. Rachel Scarfe & Carl Singleton & Paul Telemo, 2021. "Extreme Wages, Performance, and Superstars in a Market for Footballers," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 84-118, January.
    12. Kathrin Manthei & Dirk Sliwka & Timo Vogelsang, 2023. "Talking About Performance or Paying for It? A Field Experiment on Performance Reviews and Incentives," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(4), pages 2198-2216, April.
    13. Michael Lewis & Yeujun Yoon, 2018. "An Empirical Examination of the Development and Impact of Star Power in Major League Baseball," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(2), pages 155-187, February.
    14. Rodrigo Schneider & Peter Allmen & Garrett Munck, 2022. "The impact of winter Olympic games participation on NHL attendance," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 253-270, December.
    15. Scott D. Grimshaw & Jeffrey S. Larson, 2021. "Effect of Star Power on NBA All-Star Game TV Audience," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(2), pages 139-163, February.
    16. E. Frank Stephenson, 2024. "International Competitions, Star Players, and NWSL Attendance," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 25(2), pages 186-199, February.
    17. Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini & Raul Caruso & Marco Di Domizio, 2021. "Relative wages, payroll structure and performance in soccer. Evidence from Italian Serie A (2007-2019)," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Politica Economica dipe0015, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    18. Trung Minh Dang & Ross Booth & Robert Brooks & Adi Schnytzer, 2015. "Do TV Viewers Value Uncertainty of Outcome? Evidence from the Australian Football League," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 91(295), pages 523-535, December.
    19. Marco Di Domizio & Carlo Bellavite Pellegrini & Raul Caruso, 2022. "Payroll dispersion and performance in soccer: A seasonal perspective analysis for Italian Serie A (2007–2021)," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 40(3), pages 513-525, July.
    20. Carl Singleton & Dominik Schreyer, 2023. "Cristiano of Arabia: Did Ronaldo increase Saudi Pro League attendances?," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2023-14, Department of Economics, University of Reading.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:98:y:2022:i:321:p:166-190. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.