IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v31y1999i6p679-685.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Customer discrimination in professional basketball: evidence from the trading-card market

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Stone
  • Ronald Warren

Abstract

This paper presents evidence on the existence of customer racial discrimination in professional basketball from recent prices for the trading cards of former players in the National Basketball Association. Data were collected on the 258 active roster players in the NBA during the 1976-77 season, 133 of whom had cards issued that year. Maximum-likelihood estimation of a card-price equation is carried out, accounting both for the nonrandom selection of the players for whom cards exist and for left-censoring of the dependent variable. Overall, the empirical results suggest the absence of customer racial discrimination in the pricing of basketball trading cards. However, there is some evidence that the effect of career length on trading-card prices is lower for whites than for blacks, and that the card-price premium for players who subsequently coached in the NBA is lower for blacks than for whites.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Stone & Ronald Warren, 1999. "Customer discrimination in professional basketball: evidence from the trading-card market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 679-685.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:31:y:1999:i:6:p:679-685
    DOI: 10.1080/000368499323896
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/000368499323896
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/000368499323896?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Clark Nardinelli & Curtis Simon, 1990. "Customer Racial Discrimination in the Market for Memorabilia: The Case of Baseball," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 105(3), pages 575-595.
    2. Gabriel, Paul E & Johnson, Curtis & Stanton, Timothy J, 1995. "An Examination of Customer Racial Discrimination in the Market for Baseball Memorabilia," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(2), pages 215-230, April.
    3. Lawrence M. Kahn, 1991. "Discrimination in Professional Sports: A Survey of the Literature," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 44(3), pages 395-418, April.
    4. Eleanor Brown & Richard Spiro & Diane Keenan, 1991. "Wage and Nonwage Discrimination in Professional Basketball: Do Fans Affect It?," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 333-345, July.
    5. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    6. Kahn, Lawrence M & Sherer, Peter D, 1988. "Racial Differences in Professional Basketball Players' Compensation," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 6(1), pages 40-61, January.
    7. Paul M. Sommers & Noel Quinton, 1982. "Pay and Performance in Major League Baseball: The Case of the First Family of Free Agents," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 17(3), pages 426-436.
    8. Barton Hughes Hamilton, 1997. "Racial discrimination and professional basketball salaries in the 1990s," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 287-296.
    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. Myers Caitlin Knowles, 2008. "Discrimination as a Competitive Device: The Case of Local Television News," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-28, August.
    2. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2006. "Race, Performance, Pay, and Retention Among National Basketball Association Head Coaches," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 7(2), pages 119-149, May.
    3. Matthew Parrett, 2011. "Customer Discrimination in Restaurants: Dining Frequency Matters," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 87-112, June.
    4. Franc J.G.M. Klaasen & Jan R. Magnus, 2006. "Are Economic Agents Successful Optimizers? An Analysis through Service Strategy in Tennis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 06-048/2, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Klaassen, F.J.G.M. & Magnus, J.R., 2006. "Are Economic Agents Successful Optimizers? An Analysis Through Strategy in Tennis," Discussion Paper 2006-52, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    6. Depken II, Craig A. & Ford, Jon M., 2006. "Customer-based discrimination against major league baseball players: Additional evidence from All-star ballots," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1061-1077, December.
    7. Corey J.M. Williams & Kole Reddig & Adam Nowak, "undated". "Collectible Pricing and Collector Utility: The Role of Production Commitments," Working Papers 24-03, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    8. Jeffrey Chu & Saralees Nadarajah & Emmanuel Afuecheta & Stephen Chan & Ying Xu, 2014. "A statistical study of racism in English football," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2915-2937, September.
    9. David J. Berri & Christian Deutscher & Arturo Galletti, 2015. "Born in the USA: National Origin Effects on Time Allocation in US and Spanish Professional Basketball," National Institute Economic Review, National Institute of Economic and Social Research, vol. 232(1), pages 41-50, May.
    10. Klaassen, Franc J.G.M. & Magnus, Jan R., 2009. "The efficiency of top agents: An analysis through service strategy in tennis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 148(1), pages 72-85, January.
    11. B. Jay Coleman & J. Michael DuMond & Allen K. Lynch, 2008. "An Examination of NBA MVP Voting Behavior," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(6), pages 606-627, December.
    12. Eric Primm & Nicole Leeper Piquero & Robert M. Regoli & Alex R. Piquero, 2010. "The Role of Race in Football Card Prices," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 91(1), pages 129-142, March.
    13. Lawrence M. Kahn, 2009. "The Economics of Discrimination: Evidence from Basketball," NCER Working Paper Series 40, National Centre for Econometric Research.
    14. Francisco Rosas & Peter F. Orazem, 2014. "Is Self-Sufficiency for Women’s Collegiate Athletics a Hoop Dream? Willingness to Pay for Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tickets," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 15(6), pages 579-600, December.
    15. Olugbenga Ajilore, 2014. "Do white NBA players suffer from reverse discrimination?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(1), pages 558-566.

    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. R. Todd Jewell & Robert Brown & Scott Miles, 2002. "Measuring discrimination in major league baseball: evidence from the baseball hall of fame," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(2), pages 167-177.
    2. John Goddard & John O. S. Wilson, 2009. "Racial discrimination in English professional football: evidence from an empirical analysis of players' career progression," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 33(2), pages 295-316, March.
    3. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Bruno Decreuse & Morgane Laouénan & Alain Trannoy, 2016. "Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes: Theory and Evidence from the French Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 107-160.
    4. Laouénan, Morgane, 2017. "‘Hate at First Sight’: Evidence of consumer discrimination against African-Americans in the US," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 94-109.
    5. B. Jay Coleman & J. Michael DuMond & Allen K. Lynch, 2008. "An Examination of NBA MVP Voting Behavior," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(6), pages 606-627, December.
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2tlvpn71ve888pnch88db9g683 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Rosen, Sherwin & Sanderson, Allen, 2001. "Labour Markets in Professional Sports," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 111(469), pages 47-68, February.
    8. Leonard, Jonathan S. & Levine, David I., 2003. "Diversity, discrimination, and performance," Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, Working Paper Series qt19d1c3n3, Institute of Industrial Relations, UC Berkeley.
    9. Kahn, Lawrence M., 2009. "The Economics of Discrimination: Evidence from Basketball," IZA Discussion Papers 3987, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. McCormick, Robert E. & Tollison, Robert D., 2001. "Why do black basketball players work more for less money?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 201-219, February.
    11. Depken II, Craig A. & Ford, Jon M., 2006. "Customer-based discrimination against major league baseball players: Additional evidence from All-star ballots," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1061-1077, December.
    12. Barry Reilly, 2014. "Labour market discrimination," Chapters, in: John Goddard & Peter Sloane (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Professional Football, chapter 15, pages 238-258, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Roberto Pedace, 2008. "Earnings, Performance, and Nationality Discrimination in a Highly Competitive Labor Market as An Analysis of the English Professional Soccer League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(2), pages 115-140, April.
    14. Quinn Andrew Wesley Keefer, 2013. "Compensation Discrimination for Defensive Players," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 14(1), pages 23-44, February.
    15. Venkat Kuppuswamy & Peter Younkin, 2020. "Testing the Theory of Consumer Discrimination as an Explanation for the Lack of Minority Hiring in Hollywood Films," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(3), pages 1227-1247, March.
    16. Ian Preston & Stefan Szymanski, 2000. "Racial Discrimination in English football," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 47(4), pages 342-363, September.
    17. Bryson, Alex & Chevalier, Arnaud, 2015. "Is there a taste for racial discrimination amongst employers?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 51-63.
    18. Pierre-Philippe Combes & Bruno Decreuse & Morgane Laouénan & Alain Trannoy, 2016. "Customer Discrimination and Employment Outcomes: Theory and Evidence from the French Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 107-160.
    19. Barton Hughes Hamilton, 1997. "Racial discrimination and professional basketball salaries in the 1990s," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 287-296.
    20. Richard C. K. Burdekin & Richard T. Hossfeld & Janet Kiholm Smith, 2005. "Are NBA Fans Becoming Indifferent to Race? Evidence From the 1990s," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 6(2), pages 144-159, May.
    21. Myers Caitlin Knowles, 2008. "Discrimination as a Competitive Device: The Case of Local Television News," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-28, August.

    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:taf:applec:v:31:y:1999:i:6:p:679-685. 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: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    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.