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Does Losing Lead to Winning? An Empirical Analysis for Four Different Sports

Author

Listed:
  • Bouke Klein Teeselink

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Martijn J. van den Assem

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Dennie van Dolder

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Abstract

Berger and Pope (2011) show that being slightly behind increases the likelihood of winning in professional and collegiate basketball. We extend their analysis to large samples of Australian football, American football and rugby matches, but find little to no evidence of such an effect for these three sports. When we revisit the phenomenon for basketball, we do find supportive evidence for National Basketball Association (NBA) matches from the period analyzed in Berger and Pope. However, we find no significant effect for NBA matches from outside this sample period, for collegiate matches, and for matches from the Women's NBA. High-powered meta-analyses across the different sports and competitions do not reject the null hypothesis of no effect of being slightly behind on winning.

Suggested Citation

  • Bouke Klein Teeselink & Martijn J. van den Assem & Dennie van Dolder, 2020. "Does Losing Lead to Winning? An Empirical Analysis for Four Different Sports," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-049/IV, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20200049
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    competition; motivation; performance; regression discontinuity design;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z20 - Other Special Topics - - Sports Economics - - - General
    • D01 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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