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Journal of Political Economy Vol. 108 No. 3 2000

A Market Test for Discrimination in the English Professional Soccer Leagues

Stefan Szymanski

Imperial Valley College

Abstract

This paper proposes a market test for racial discrimination in salary setting in English league soccer over the period 1978–93 using a balanced panel of 39 clubs. If there is a competitive market for the services of players, the wage bill of the club will reflect their productivity and hence the performance of the club in the league. Discrimination can be said to exist if clubs fielding an above‐average proportion of black players systematically outperform clubs with a below‐average proportion of black players, after one controls for the wage bill. Statistically significant evidence of discrimination in this sense is found.

DOI
10.1086/262130
Volume
108
Issue
3
Pages
590-603
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib openalex crossref

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