Francesc Pujol

An Unconventional Composite Index of International Influence

Abstract We provide a composite index reflecting the relative international influence of selected countries. This kind of measure is often needed as an explanatory variable for a wide range of international business and economics research projects. Instead of establishing disputable a priori weights for each one of the components of the index, we reverse the strategy building up an index which is composite by nature and then we test whether it depends on key economic variables. The index is formed by counting the times each country appears in the tables published in the international review The Economist in all the year 2000 issues. The explanatory model proposed shows that the index is statistically related to basic economic variables. A comparison between the 1990 and 2000 index is proposed.

Sport Talent, Media Value and Equal Prize Policies in Tennis

Given the economic and commercial implications of sports, the media value of players and teams is considered a major asset in professional sports businesses. This paper aims to assess the economic value of intangible assets in the tennis industry. In order to rank the media value of professional tennis players (both men and women), we measure the intangible talent of players based on their exposure in the mass media. We use the ESI (Economics, Sports and Intangibles) methodology to examine some issues related to the competitive structure of tennis. Then, we explore whether policies regarding prize money could be more efficiently designed to account for the economic contribution of the players. The paper uses weekly data on the media presence and popularity of 1,400 professional tennis players (700 women and 700 men competing in 2007, espectively, in the WTA and ATP).