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American Economic Review Vol. 92 No. 1 2002

Racial Integration as an Innovation: Empirical Evidence from Sports Leagues

Brian L. Goff1; Robert E. McCormick2; Robert D. Tollison3

1 Department of Economics, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101. · 2 Department of Economics, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634. · 3 Department of Economics, University of Mississippi, University, MS 38677.

Abstract

This paper treats racial integration as an innovation in economic process in which economic entities find it advantageous to utilize potentially more productive inputs previously unavailable due to law, custom, or managerial discretion. Data on the racial integration of Major League Baseball and Atlantic Coast Conference basketball are employed to address this issue. The central question examined is which type of team integrated first—losers or winners? The results strongly support the idea that entrepreneurship trumps competitive rivalry; that is, winning teams led the process of racial integration.

DOI
10.1257/000282802760015586
Volume
92
Issue
1
Pages
16-26
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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