A Market Test for Ethnic Discrimination in the National Hockey League

Abstract

This article tests for salary discrimination based on player ethnicities in the National Hockey League across various geographical locations with a market model that analyzes every game played during the 2010-2011 season. Using both the relative share of game-team players on the starting roster and time on ice as inputs, results suggest that, relative to English Canadian players, French Canadian and American players playing on Canadian teams suffer from wage discrimination. Potential confounding factors that can influence the inferences, as well as the limitations, of the market model approach are discussed.

Integration and Team Performance in the NBA

“…Similarly, Kahane (2005) showed that National Hockey League teams with more French-Canadian players were more efficient at generating wins than teams with fewer French-Canadians. Mongeon (2013) found that NHL teams with more French-Canadian and U.S.-born players won more often.…”

Professional Labor Markets in the Journal of Sports Economics

“…Following the seminal work of Szymanski (2000) on discrimination in English football in the 1970s and 1980s, Mongeon (2015) performs a “market test” on NHL. This involves regressing team performance on team (relative) payrolls and shares of ethnic groups on NHL team rosters.…”