This paper examines taxable sales in the Los Angeles and Miami metropolitan areas to find evidence of the short- and long-run effects of the Rodney King riots and Hurricane Andrew on their respective economies. The comparison of these two events shows that the King riots had a long-term negative effect on Los Angeles' economy while Hurricane Andrew had a short-term positive effect on the Miami economy. The paper also applies the contrasting experiences of Los Angeles and Miami to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. In some ways, Katrina is a hybrid of these two events since it combines elements of both a natural disaster and a social disaster. The paper examines how Katrina is similar to each of the previous incidents and how these similarities might affect the recovery of New Orleans following the storm.

We estimate the impact of sporting events and franchises on local crime rates using the technique developed in Arellano and Bond (2001). For events, we consider the presence of Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League and National Hockey League franchises as well as whether a city held one of the respective championships, the Olympics, or World Cup matches. We find little to no evidence that sporting events or franchises are correlated with changes in either property or violent crime with two notable exceptions. The Olympics Games are associated with roughly a 10 per cent increase in property crimes while the Super Bowl is associated with a 2.5 per cent decrease in violent crime. On the whole, however, the presence of spectator sports does not seem to automatically carry with it any improvements in citywide criminal behaviour.

This article provides an empirical examination of the economic impact of spectator sports on local economies. Confirming the results of other ex post analyses of sports in general, this article finds no statistically significant evidence that college football games in particular contribute positively to a host's economy. Our analysis from 1970 to 2004 of 63 metropolitan areas that played host to big-time college football programs finds that neither the number of home games played, the winning percentage of the local team, nor winning a national championship has a discernable impact on either employment or personal income in the cities where the teams play. An examination of a subset of 42 smaller college towns finds that winning seasons actually reduce the growth rate of per capita personal income. Although successful college football teams may bring fame to their home towns, fortune appears to be a bit more elusive.

Tournament design is of crucial importance in competitive sports. The primary goal of effective tournament design is to provide incentives for the participants to maximize their performance both during the tournament and in the time period leading up to the tournament. In spectator sports, a secondary goal of tournament design is to also promote interesting match ups that generate fan interest. Seeded tournaments, in general, promote both goals. Teams or individuals with strong performances leading up to a tournament receive higher seeds which increase their chances of progressing further in the tournament. Furthermore, seeding ensures that the strongest teams or players are most likely to meet in the final rounds of the tournament when fan interest is at its peak. Under some distributions of team or player skill, however, a seeding system can introduce anomalies that could affect incentives. Our analysis of the NCAA men's basketball tournament uncovers such an anomaly. The seeding system in this tournament gives teams with better success in the regular season more favorable first round match ups, but the tournament is not reseeded as the games progress. Therefore, while higher seeds progress to the 2nd round of the tournament at uniformly higher rates than lower seeds, this relationship breaks down in later rounds. We find that 10th and 11th seeds average more wins and typically progress farther in the tournament than 8th and 9th seeds. This finding violates the intended incentive structure of seeded tournaments.

Baade R. A., Baumann R. W. and Matheson V. A. Big men on campus: estimating the economic impact of college sports on local economies, Regional Studies. College American football and men's basketball are the largest revenue generators in college athletics, and boosters tout the economic benefits of athletic programmes as an incentive for cities to construct new sports facilities at considerable public expense. An analysis of the economic impact of home football and men's basketball games on Tallahassee (home of Florida State University) and Gainesville (home of the University of Florida) between 1980 and 2007 fails to support these claims. Men's basketball games at these universities have no statistically significant impact on taxable sales, while football yields a modest gain of about US$2 million per home game. [image omitted] Baade R. A., Baumann R. W. et Matheson V. A. Des geants sur le campus: evaluer l'impact economique du sport de college sur les economies locales, Regional Studies. Aux E-U, le football americain et le basket masculin sont les principales sources de revenu produits dans le sport de college, et les supporters pronent les avantages economiques des programmes de sport comme une incitation aux grandes villes a construire de nouvelles infrastructures sportives aux grands frais de l'Etat. Une analyse de l'impact economqiue des matches de football et de basket a domicile sur Tallahassee (zone d'accueil de la Florida State University) et Gainesville (zone d'accueil de la University of Florida) entre 1980 et 2007 ne reussit pas a soutenir ces affirmations. Il s'avere que leurs matches de basket n'ont aucun impact statistiquement important sur les ventes imposables, tandis que le football rapporte un gain modique d'environ $2�m de dollars americains par match a domicile. Sport de college Basket Football americain Stades Analyse de l'impact Grand evenement Baade R. A., Baumann R. W. und Matheson V. A. Grosse Manner auf dem Campus: eine Schatzung der wirtschaftlichen Auswirkung von Hochschulsport auf die Lokalwirtschaft, Regional Studies. American Football und Herrenbasketball sind im Bereich des Hochschulsports die grossten Einnahmequellen. Seitens der Befurworter wird der wirtschaftliche Nutzen von Sportprogrammen als Anreiz fur Stadte zum Bau neuer Sportanlagen unter erheblichen Kosten fur die Allgemeinheit angepriesen. Fur diese Behauptungen konnten jedoch bei einer Analyse der wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen von Heimspielen der Football- und Herrenbasketball-Mannschaften in Tallahassee (der Heimat der Florida State University) und Gainesville (der Heimat der University of Florida) im Zeitraum von 1980 bis 2007 keine Belege gefunden werden. Die Herrenbasketballspiele an diesen Universitaten hatten keine statistisch signifikante Auswirkung auf den versteuerbaren Umsatz, wahrend die Einnahmen durch Football einen bescheidenen Gewinn von ca. 2 Mio. USD pro Heimspiel abwarfen. Hochschulsport Basketball American Football Sportstadien Auswirkungsanalyse Grossveranstaltungen Baade R. A., Baumann R. W. y Mat...