It should still be clear to the sports economist that job he/she does is never done, especially when it comes to debunking the myth that building stadiums creates jobs. Despite the consensus in our field and the reams of papers that have been used that the building of sports stadiums does not create new employment, the belief is still there:
"I love baseball and I figure I could serve the fans," he said after leading people to their seats.
During the open house, which served as a training day for the new staff, Kimber Thiel looked over a cash register at one of the stadium's concession stands. Thiel, a Gwinnett Tech student, was one of more than 1,000 applicants for the 200 food service jobs with vendor Aramark.
Frederic Bastiat taught us almost 200 years ago that the good economist accounts for the seen and unseen effects. Those 600 jobs are what we see, but because other companies in other industries will see their consumers decrease their spending and take this "savings" and spend it, instead, on the Gwinnet Braves. The unseen effects are the loss in jobs in those other industries. The research in the field suggests the effects at best completely offset.
HT JC Bradbury