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Performing without pressure? The effect of ghost games on effort- and skill-based tasks in the football Bundesliga

Author

Listed:
  • Christoph Buehren

    (Ruhr-University Bochum)

  • Dominic Jung

    (Clausthal University of Technology)

Abstract

We analyze the natural experiment of ghost games in the 2019/2020 season of the German football Bundesliga and confirm previous studies showing that the home advantage diminishes if the stadium is empty. However, our paper is the first that distinguishes between effort- and skill-based tasks in this setting. In line with behavioral economics, we observe that a supportive audience has a positive effect on effort-based performance but a negative effect on some offensive skill-based performance measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Buehren & Dominic Jung, 2022. "Performing without pressure? The effect of ghost games on effort- and skill-based tasks in the football Bundesliga," MAGKS Papers on Economics 202227, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    • Handle: RePEc:mar:magkse:202227
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    File URL: https://www.uni-marburg.de/en/fb02/research-groups/economics/macroeconomics/research/magks-joint-discussion-papers-in-economics/papers/2022-papers/27-2022_buehren.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ghost games; home advantage; effort vs. skill; Covid-19;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • Z20 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - General

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