Market Power

"Academics vs. Athletics: Career Concerns for NCAA Division I Coaches"

Here is the abstract to a new NBER by Christopher Avery, Brian Cadman, and Gavin Cassar entitled "Academics vs. Athletics: Career Concerns for NCAA Division I Coaches."

We analyze the promotions and firings of NCAA Division 1 college basketball and college football coaches to assess whether these coaches are rewarded for the academic performance of their players in promotion and retention decisions. We find that an increase in Academic Progress Rate, as measured by the NCAA, for a college team in either sport significantly reduces the probability that the coach is fired at the end of the season. We find little to no evidence that an increase in the Academic Progress Rate enhances the chances of advancement (in the form of outside job offers) for these coaches.

Here is the link to the working paper.

"Regulated And Unregulated Substitutes: Aversion Effects Of An Ethanol Mandate"

This is from Michael D. Noel and Travis Roach in a paper recently published by Economic Inquiry entitled “Regulated And Unregulated Substitutes: Aversion Effects Of An Ethanol Mandate”.  Here is the abstract.

“One approach for handling more aggressive goals under an ethanol mandate is to use a “dual blend” mandate in which both the preferred new ethanol blend and the old (possibly ethanol-free) blend of gasoline coexist. Highlighting the case of New South Wales, Australia, we show the dual nature of such a mandate can potentially lead to significant costs when consumers are averse. We show consumers en masse rejected the new blend and paid 43 cents per gallon more to avoid it. Not even the second of the mandate's four targets could be reached, and the consumer cost was substantial. (JEL L51, Q41, Q42, Q51)”