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Are Sunk Costs Irrelevant? Evidence From Playing Time In The National Basketball Association

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  • Daniel M. Leeds
  • Michael A. Leeds
  • Akira Motomura

Abstract

type="main" xml:id="ecin12190-abs-0001"> We use playing time in the National Basketball Association to investigate whether sunk costs affect decision making. Behavioral economics implies that teams favor players chosen in the lottery and first round of the draft because of the greater financial and psychic commitment to them. Neoclassical economics implies that only current performance matters. We build on previous work in two ways. First, we better capture potential playing time by accounting for time lost to injuries or suspension. Second, we use regression discontinuity to capture changes when a player's draft position crosses thresholds. We find that teams allocate no more time to highly drafted players. ( JEL L83, J23, D03)

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel M. Leeds & Michael A. Leeds & Akira Motomura, 2015. "Are Sunk Costs Irrelevant? Evidence From Playing Time In The National Basketball Association," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 53(2), pages 1305-1316, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:53:y:2015:i:2:p:1305-1316
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/ecin.2015.53.issue-2
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    1. Are NBA coaches behavioral or neoclassical?
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2014-01-17 21:45:00

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    Cited by:

    1. Quinn Keefer, 2021. "Sunk costs in the NBA: the salary cap and free agents," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(6), pages 3445-3478, December.
    2. Quinn Keefer, 2015. "Performance Feedback Does Not Eliminate the Sunk-Cost Fallacy: Evidence From Professional Football," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 36(4), pages 409-426, December.
    3. Alexander Hinton & Yiguo Sun, 2020. "The sunk-cost fallacy in the National Basketball Association: evidence using player salary and playing time," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 1019-1036, August.
    4. Keefer, Quinn A.W., 2019. "Decision-maker beliefs and the sunk-cost fallacy: Major League Baseball’s final-offer salary arbitration and utilization," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PB).
    5. Quinn A. W. Keefer, 2017. "The Sunk-Cost Fallacy in the National Football League," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 18(3), pages 282-297, April.
    6. Quinn A. W. Keefer, 2019. "Do sunk costs affect expert decision making? Evidence from the within-game usage of NFL running backs," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 56(5), pages 1769-1796, May.
    7. Hackinger, Julian, 2019. "Ignoring millions of Euros: Transfer fees and sunk costs in professional football," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PB).
    8. Quinn Andrew Wesley Keefer, 2021. "Did the 2011 Change to NFL Rookie Compensation Alter How Sunk Costs Affect Utilization?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 22(4), pages 387-411, May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

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