Invest yourself in World Cup 2018 with one of these football economics workshops
07 June 2018
Football fans can get in the mood for the World Cup in a different way next week – by learning about the brutal economic side of the beautiful game.
A series of free lectures focusing on the often surprising part money plays in club and international football is being hosted by the University of Reading in the lead up to kick off at the FIFA tournament in Russia.
A number of other alternative aspects of football and other sports will also be explored, including how much of an influence managers really have on results, and a comparison of how supporters react to match action if they are inside the stadium or at home watching on TV.
The lectures, presented by economics experts from around the world, on Wednesday 13 June and Thursday 14 June, the latter finishing with a screening of the opening game of the tournament – Russia vs Saudi Arabia.
"We’ll be revealing how economics has been the surprising catalyst for some of the biggest changes in football over the last century" - Dr James Reade, University of Reading
Dr James Reade, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Reading and organiser of the event, said: “All football fans are aware of how important money is to achieving success on the field, but they might be surprised at just how far its impact extends beyond that. We’ll be revealing how economics has been the surprising catalyst for some of the biggest changes in football over the last century.
“We’ll also be explaining research on many other aspects of sport, such as the right time to sack a manager, and why international sport is now more competitive than ever before. With excitement building ahead of the World Cup in Russia, this is an ideal way to satisfy your craving for sport until it kicks off.”
The first day of workshops, on July 13, focuses on how economics has shaped the history of sport. It features a talk on England’s north/south football power divide that developed between the First and Second World War, and how increased television money following the introduction of the Premier League has allowed northern teams to become far more competitive.
Others will look at the dramatic increase in popularity of women’s cricket and how this mirrors social progress elsewhere, as well as how the Victorian era saw sports players become professional for the first time.
The second day, on July 14, looks at a range of sporting themes, such as whether skill or luck is more important in the pressurised world of football managers, and just why some countries have enjoyed greater footballing success than others.
To register your interest in attending on either day, or individual talks, please contact j.j.reade@reading.ac.uk.
Full schedule of talks
WEDNESDAY 13 JULY
ECONOMIC (AND) HISTORY OF SPORT
Room G10, Henley Business School, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, RG6 6UR
09:30 Registration and Coffee
10:15 Introductory Remarks Prof Mark Casson
10:30 Robert Simmons - Between the Wars
11:15 Stefan Szymanski - The resurrection of the North
12:00 James Reade - Superstar economics in the maximum wage era of English football
12:45 Lunch
14:30 Rafaelle Nicholson - A social history of women’s cricket
15:15 Dilwyn Porter - N.L. Jackson’s Corinthians: Victorian sporting entrepreneurs
16:00 Coffee
16:30 Keynote Wray Vamplew - Theories, Models and Statistics: What Economic Historians Can Contribute to Sports History
18:00 Dinner in Park House
THURSDAY 14 JULY
WORLD CUP WORKSHOP
Room G10, Henley Business School, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, RG6 6UR
09:00 Kick Off: Sir David Bell, Vice Chancellor, University of Reading
The First Half
09:15 Adrian R Bell - The performance of football club managers: skill or luck?
10:00 Bernd Frick - Deferred Compensation when Monitoring is (Nearly) Costless: Evidence from Professional Football
10:45 Half Time Refreshments
The Second Half
11:00 Alex Bryson - Special Ones? The Effect of Head Coaches on Football Team Performance
11:45 Babatunde Buraimo - Unscripted drama: The impact of surprise, suspense and shock on Television audiences for football
12:30 End of Normal Time: Lunch
Extra Time
14:00 Katrin Scharfenkamp - Effort reduction of employer-to-employer changers: empirical evidence from football
14:45 Keynote Stefan Szymanski - Convergence vs. The Middle Income Trap: The Case of Global Soccer
16:00 FIFA World Cup: Russia vs Saudi Arabia