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Long live hall of famers? Evidence from major league baseball

Author

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  • Hua, Chengyuan
  • Humphreys, Brad R.

Abstract

Understanding the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on health outcomes represents and important economic research topic. Finding exogenous variation in SES proxy variables represents an empirical challenge. We exploit exogenous variation in outcomes in a contest, election to the Baseball Hall of Fame (HoF), to generate exogenous variation in SES. Fuzzy RDD model results show HoF election causes players to live about 2 years longer than nominated players never elected. Later employment as a baseball manager represents a plausible mechanism for this impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Hua, Chengyuan & Humphreys, Brad R., 2025. "Long live hall of famers? Evidence from major league baseball," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 256(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:256:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525004562
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112619
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J44 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Professional Labor Markets and Occupations
    • Z22 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - Labor Issues

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