The Economics of Sport
  • Sports Economics
  • About
  • Workshop
  • Selected Publications
  • Book Reviews
  • A Primer on Gaelic Games
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Education
  • Resources & Links
  • Data

Chelsea F.C. and the Chicago School of Economics

17/3/2015

 
By John Considine
Picture
In some quarters Chelsea F.C. is seen as a prime example of "what is wrong with football".  In other quarters the Chicago School of Economics is seen as the prime example of "what is wrong with economics".  Both claims are exaggerated.  However, it would not be unfair to say that the criticism of both Chelsea and Chicago is that their perspective is probably too narrow.

Chelsea F.C. were knocked out of the Champions League last Wednesday.  Chelsea had drawn 1-1 with Paris Saint Germain (PSG) in the first leg in Paris.  In the second leg, their opponents were reduced to 10 men after the star player, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, was sent off for a challenge on Oscar.  Immediately following the challenge it seemed that the remaining outfield Chelsea players surrounded the referee and put pressure on him to issue a red card.  Prior to the game the Chelsea manager, Jose Mourino, had claimed that PSG were aggressive in their approach.  When Chelsea lost, some TV pundits suggested that it was footballing karma.  Some expressed their delight at the result.  Others criticised what they felt was Chelsea's gamesmanship.

The Chelsea manager took two of the pundits to task.  Mourino wondered aloud if Jamie Carragher and Graham Souness forgot how they themselves had played the game (media reports of his response can be found here and here).  Mourino has a point.  As players, both Souness and Carragher tended to do what was in the interests of their team rather that what was in the interest of the wider game of football.  But that was as players.  It is here we can turn to the father of the (old) Chicago School of Economics - Frank Knight.  Knight liked to use sport as a metaphor in his work.  And, when it came to the driving force of humans as players in a game he said "It is just as in a game where the concrete objective - capturing our opponents' pieces, carrying a ball across a mark, or whatever it may be - is a matter of accident, but to achieve it is for the moment the end and aim of being".  While not all players will 'stop at nothing' to win a game, many will break, and most will bend, the rules to ensure victory.

Knight agreed (with Ruskin) that success in the game of business went to the "industrious, resolute, proud, covetous, prompt, methodological, sensible".  Successful athletes and sports teams, like Chelsea, have many of these qualities.  Knight's list for business success also included "unimaginative, insensitive, and ignorant".

The father of the Chicago School of Economics drew more heavily on the sporting metaphor when he was writing about economics and ethics.  In "The Ethics of Competition" he discusses the qualities of a good "game" and why business does not represent a good game.  In "Economic Theory and Nationalism" he extends the metaphor to politics.  Probably his most comprehensive use of the metaphor of sport is presented in a 1939 essay spread across three issues of Economica.  The overall title of the three papers is "Ethics and Economic Reform".  In this work, Knight separates the actions of individuals as players at a particular moment in time from those individuals charged with protecting the wider game of politics, business, or sport.  Mourino is missing the point when he says Souness and Carragher played in a particular fashion.

Nobel prize winner James M. Buchanan claims that the "new" Chicago School of Economics forgot some of the lessons of Knight and his colleagues.  His thoughts on the subject are captured in a series of presentations made in the University of Rochester and available on YouTube (here and here).  In particular, he points out the problems of using an efficient market hypothesis when it comes to the issue of public goods.  He could probably have added that modern economists could read Knight for an understanding of the role of economics in the wider social game.

[Those interested in a more detailed account of Knight's uses of the sport metaphor should consult Ross Emmett's book pictured above.]


Comments are closed.

    Archives

    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013

    About

    This website was founded in July 2013.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    American Football
    Athletics
    Baseball
    Basketball
    Behavioural Economics
    Boxing
    Broadcasting
    Competitive Balance
    Cricket
    Cycling
    Darts
    David Butler
    Declan Jordan
    Drugs
    Ed Valentine
    Epl
    Esports
    Expenditure
    F1
    Fifa World Cup
    Finances
    Funding
    Gaa
    Gaelic Games
    Gambling
    Game Theory
    Gary Burns
    Geography
    Golf
    Greyhound Racing
    Guest Posts
    Horse Racing
    Impact Studies
    John Considine
    John Eakins
    League Of Ireland
    Location
    Media
    Mls
    Mma
    Olympics
    Participation
    Paul O'Sullivan
    Premier League
    Regulation
    Research
    Robbie Butler
    Rugby
    Simpsonomics
    Snooker
    Soccer
    Spatial Analysis
    Sporting Bodies
    Stephen Brosnan
    Swimming
    Taxation
    Teaching
    Technology
    Tennis
    Transfers
    Uefa
    Ufc
    World Cup
    Wwe

Related

The website is not formally affiliated to any institution and all of the entries represent the personal views and opinions of an individual contributor. The website operates on a not-for-profit basis. For this reason we decline all advertisement opportunities. 

Contact

To contact us email sportseconomics2013@gmail.com or find us on Twitter @SportEcon.