We investigate the relationship between participation in physical activity and self reported happiness in the United States. IV estimates based on data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System between 2005 and 2009 and County Business Patterns indicate that individuals living in a...

Governments world-wide increasingly rely on gambling revenues, increasing the importance of understanding who gambles and why. Previous literature used Tobit and Heckman models to statistically analyze participation in gambling. These models make strong assumptions about the nature of gambling...

The health benefits of participation in physical activity are well documented, yet the prevalence of meeting physical activity guidelines remains low. We examine the determinants of participation in physical activity in Canada by estimating double hurdle models of participation and time spent...

A growing body of literature indicates that sports teams face incentives to lose games at the end of the season. This incentive arises from league entry draft policy. We use data from betting markets to confirm the existence of tanking, or the perception of tanking, in the NBA. Results from a...

The predictions that emerge from tournament theory have been tested in a number of sports-related settings. Since sporting events involving individuals (golf, tennis, running, auto racing) feature rank order tournaments with relatively large payoffs and easily observable outcomes, sports is a...

Government sponsored lotteries operate around the world. Their popularity has grown substantially over time. Legal lottery gambling generates significant public revenue, much of it from the lower part of the income distribution. Lottery is almost always an unfair bet, so explaining the purchase...

Many countries promote participation in sport and physical activity among its citizens. We undertake an international comparative analysis of participation using data from 34 countries in the 2007 International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Leisure Time and Sports module, augmented with...

Dana (2001) developed a model of price dispersion under demand uncertainty. The model predicts that, in the face of uncertain demand and inflexible prices, monopolists maximizes pro fits using ex ante price discrimination. We test the predictions of this model using a unique data set from Major...

We examine the relationship between attendance, uncertainty of outcome, and team quality in the National Hockey League. Based on results from a reduced form model of attendance at 6054 regular season NHL games from 2005/06 to 2009/10, we find evidence that attendance increases when fans expect...

Health production models include participation in physical activity as an input. We investigate the relationship between participation in physical activity and health using a bivariate probit model. Participation is identifi ed with an exclusion restriction on a variable reflecting sense of...