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Why are we so good at football, and they so bad? Institutions and national footballing performance

Author

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  • Meshael Batarfi

    (Department of Economics, University of Reading)

  • J. James Reade

    (Department of Economics, University of Reading)

Abstract

The production technology in football is identical for each team that competes. All around the world, a field, goalposts and a ball is all that is required, in addition to players. Yet at each country's highest level, national football teams, vast differences exist across countries. This paper sketches out broad patterns in this variation in performance, and seeks to understand why some countries are very good, whilst others very poor. We investigate a range of macroeconomic, demographic and other explanations and consider the extent to which they explain the observed variation in footballing performance historically. We find that higher level of GDP helps nations to win more often, but that population hinders this. A more developed domestic footballing structure appears to be helpful too.

Suggested Citation

  • Meshael Batarfi & J. James Reade, 2020. "Why are we so good at football, and they so bad? Institutions and national footballing performance," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2020-17, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    • Handle: RePEc:rdg:emxxdp:em-dp2020-17
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    File URL: http://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/economics/emdp202017.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Development; contests; sport;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development
    • C20 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - General
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

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