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Wages and labor productivity. Evidence from injuries in the National Football League

Author

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  • Ian Gregory-Smith

    (Department of Economics, University of Sheffield)

Abstract

Studies in labor economics face severe difficulties when identifying the relationship between wages and labor productivity. This paper presents a novel identification strategy and demonstrates that the connection between wages and labor productivity is remarkably robust even when institutional constraints serve to distort the relationship. Identification is achieved by considering injuries to professional football players as an exogenous shock to labor productivity. This is an ideal empirical setting because injured players in the NFL can not be replaced easily because franchises are constrained by the salary cap. Injuries are shown to play a major role in franchise success and a tight connection between wages and marginal productivity emerges. This is in spite of regulatory frictions that serve to hold down wages for some workers

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Gregory-Smith, 2019. "Wages and labor productivity. Evidence from injuries in the National Football League," Working Papers 2019018, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:shf:wpaper:2019018
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    File URL: http://www.sheffield.ac.uk/economics/research/serps/articles/2019_018
    File Function: First version, June 2019
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    Cited by:

    1. Pascal Courty & Jeffrey Cisyk, 2024. "Sports injuries and game stakes: Concussions in the National Football League," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(1), pages 430-448, January.
    2. Ian Gregory-Smith & Alex Bryson & Rafael Gomez, 2025. "Discrimination in retention decisions and its impact on career earnings. Evidence from the National Football League," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 2554, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    3. Sizhong Sun, 2023. "Firm heterogeneity, worker training and labor productivity: the role of endogenous self-selection," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 121-133, April.
    4. Yulia Chikish & Brad R. Humphreys, "undated". "The Impact of Health Shocks on Worker Performance: Evidence from Professional Sports," Working Papers 24-06, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    5. Quinn A. W. Keefer & Thomas J. Kniesner, 2023. "“Injury risk, concussions, race, and pay in the NFL”," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 67(2), pages 107-136, October.
    6. Hoey, Sam & Peeters, Thomas & van Ours, Jan C., 2023. "The impact of absent co-workers on productivity in teams," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    7. Mario Lackner & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2023. "Presenteeism when employers are under pressure: evidence from a high‐stakes environment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 90(358), pages 477-507, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • Z22 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - Labor Issues

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