By John Considine
In eight days from now Arsenal will play in the UEFA Champions League final. Twenty years ago Arsenal played their last final against Barcelona. The final did not go to a penalty shootout. If it had then one team would have an economist's analysis in their back pocket. In 2006 Ignacio Palacios-Huerta was making a name for himself by examining data on penalty kicks. As a scientist he was using data to test game theory. As a potential advisor to a football team he was advocating a course of action for individual players. Unfortunately for economists his ideas were not tested in the heat of the 2006 competition.
That changed two years later. In 2008 he prepared a report for Chelsea. That UEFA final between Chelsea and Manchester United did go to a penalty shootout. As he explains in his TEDx talk, his advice nearly helped Chelsea win that title.
He later went on to write Beautiful Game Theory: How soccer can help economics. Every sportsperson studying economics should read it. Palacios-Huerta see economics as an approach rather than a subject matter. Penalty kicks are the subject matter. They provide the data for the questions this economist is seeking to answer, e.g. do humans behave as if they understand the complexity of strategy? An understated feature of the book is the way it takes the reader through the 21st century economics approach to such matters.
The book starts with explaining the data collection and analysis process. Palacios-Huerta explains how he uses data from the natural experiments that occurred in various soccer leagues. He then explains how he replicated these natural experiments in a labratory setting with footballers. Very few pieces of economic research are as robust. The book format allows him to explain the difficulties of going from statistical averages to the analysis of the specific individual. It is wonderfully illustrated by stories about Lionel Messi and Eric Cantona.
This thouroughness is continued in the book. There is a chapter dedicated to the biological machinery and the neuroscience that is influencing economics. A number of chapters dedicated to the psychological influences in behavioural economics. Provided the student of economics likes soccer, and is prepared to work through some mathematics, it is one of the best introduction to economics they will find.
That changed two years later. In 2008 he prepared a report for Chelsea. That UEFA final between Chelsea and Manchester United did go to a penalty shootout. As he explains in his TEDx talk, his advice nearly helped Chelsea win that title.
He later went on to write Beautiful Game Theory: How soccer can help economics. Every sportsperson studying economics should read it. Palacios-Huerta see economics as an approach rather than a subject matter. Penalty kicks are the subject matter. They provide the data for the questions this economist is seeking to answer, e.g. do humans behave as if they understand the complexity of strategy? An understated feature of the book is the way it takes the reader through the 21st century economics approach to such matters.
The book starts with explaining the data collection and analysis process. Palacios-Huerta explains how he uses data from the natural experiments that occurred in various soccer leagues. He then explains how he replicated these natural experiments in a labratory setting with footballers. Very few pieces of economic research are as robust. The book format allows him to explain the difficulties of going from statistical averages to the analysis of the specific individual. It is wonderfully illustrated by stories about Lionel Messi and Eric Cantona.
This thouroughness is continued in the book. There is a chapter dedicated to the biological machinery and the neuroscience that is influencing economics. A number of chapters dedicated to the psychological influences in behavioural economics. Provided the student of economics likes soccer, and is prepared to work through some mathematics, it is one of the best introduction to economics they will find.
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