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Does it pay to specialize? The story from the Gridiron

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Author Info
Rob Simmons
D Berri

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Abstract

In the field of personnel economics, there are few opportunities to convincingly test for salary returns to specialization as against versatility or multi-tasking. This paper performs such a test by modeling returns to performance measures associated with two different skills practiced by running backs in the National Football League. We find pronounced gains to specialization with substantial predicted differences in returns for alternative skills. Moreover, these differences vary across the salary distribution. In the top half of the salary distribution, especially, model simulations show that specialists in either particular skill generate higher marginal returns than versatile players.

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Paper provided by Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department in its series Working Papers with number 005290.

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Date of creation: 2007
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Handle: RePEc:lan:wpaper:005290

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  1. Turner, Chad & Hakes, Jahn, 2007. "Pay, productivity and aging in Major League Baseball," MPRA Paper 4326, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  2. Robert Simmons & David Berri, 2005. "Race and evaluation of signal callers in the National Football League," IASE Conference Papers 0511, International Association of Sports Economists.
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  4. Kevin G. Quinn, 2006. "Who Should be Drafted? Predicting Future Professional Productivity of Amateur Players Seeking to Enter the National Football League," IASE Conference Papers 0611, International Association of Sports Economists.
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  7. Lawrence M. Kahn, 1992. "The effects of race on professional football players' compensation," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 45(2), pages 295-310, January.
  8. Scully, Gerald W, 1974. "Pay and Performance in Major League Baseball," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 64(6), pages 915-30, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Carmichael, H Lorne & MacLeod, W Bentley, 1993. "Multiskilling, Technical Change and the Japanese Firm," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(416), pages 142-60, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Garicano, Luis & Hubbard, Thomas N, 2007. "Managerial Leverage Is Limited by the Extent of the Market: Hierarchies, Specialization, and the Utilization of Lawyers' Human Capital," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(1), pages 1-43, February.
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  11. Hamilton, Barton Hughes, 1997. "Racial Discrimination and Professional Basketball Salaries in the 1990s," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 29(3), pages 287-96, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn Shaw, 2003. "Beyond Incentive Pay: Insiders' Estimates of the Value of Complementary Human Resource Management Practices," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(1), pages 155-180, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Bodvarsson, Orn B. & Partridge, Mark D., 2001. "A supply and demand model of co-worker, employer and customer discrimination," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 389-416, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Wallace Hendricks & Lawrence DeBrock & Roger Koenker, 2003. "Uncertainty, Hiring, and Subsequent Performance: The NFL Draft," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(4), pages 857-886, October. [Downloadable!]
  15. Sandra E. Black & Lisa M. Lynch, 2004. "What's driving the new economy?: the benefits of workplace innovation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 114(493), pages F97-F116, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Green, Francis & Machin, Stephen & Wilkinson, David, 1998. "The Meaning and Determinants of Skills Shortages," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 60(2), pages 165-87, May.
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