John K. Wilson

Government Subsidies for Professional Team Sports in Australia

Professional team sports represent an important aspect of Australian life. Interest is great, and a significant portion of household expenditure is directed toward sports-related goods and services. Based on international comparisons and on the size of attendance and television revenues, the sector should be highly profitable. Yet, significant amounts of public funding and regulatory exemptions are afforded to team sports in Australia. This article analyses the magnitude and reasons for government spending that subsidises professional team sports.

The Impact of Trade and Investment Agreements on Australia's Inward FDI Flows

International trade and investment agreements are one of the primary instruments of global financial liberalisation. They are enacted to enhance the flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) between signatories by reducing regulatory barriers to investment; promoting stable host investment environments; and guaranteeing investors against non-commercial risk. As a net capital importer, Australia has sought to attract FDI through participation in such accords since the early 1980s. This paper examines the determinants of Australias inward FDI flows - focussing specifically on the effects of trade and investment agreements. Using panel data, we find that both bilateral trade and bilateral and multilateral investment agreements attract FDI flows into Australia, thereby indicating that the policy of enticing FDI through participation in these accords is quite possibly effective.

Public Policy and Professional Sports

Public Policy and Professional Sports is a comprehensive analysis of public policy aspects of the economics of professional sports, supported by in-depth international case studies. It covers regulation and competition in the sports industry and its labour markets, public spending on stadiums and mega-events, and governance issues including unethical behaviour (corruption, doping, etc). The innovative feature of the work is the combination of economic analysis and well-known international examples with detailed case studies of public policy as it relates to sport in Australia. Australia is an excellent case study due to the high profile of sport in the national psyche and the range of popular professional sports.

Who sits in Australia's grandstands?

Numerous sports stadiums in Australia have been renovated or built from scratch in the past two decades, funded in whole or part by public subsidies. This note focuses on one particular group that benefits from subsidies—those spectators who attend live sporting events. A portion of the benefits from subsidies provided by government are captured as increased consumer surplus by sporting fans. Thus, the income and wealth position of these fans are of interest to those deciding whether to subsidize a facility. On the other side of the equation, the taxes which fund sporting facilities are to a large degree state and local levies, which are mostly regressive, taking a larger portion of the income of lower and middle income than of higher income taxpayers because savings are usually exempt from the relevant taxes. Using data from the Household Expenditure Survey (1988-1989, 2009-2010), we analyze various financial status characteristics of those who pay to attend sporting events in Australia. We find that those who buy tickets to sporting events have higher annual incomes and greater wealth than Australians who do not purchase tickets to sporting events. Hence, while media and policy makers may view such funding as subsidizing “working man’s recreation,” our results suggest that funding of sporting arenas should be assessed through the lens of correcting market failures rather than equity considerations.

Sports economics and the sports industry: perspectives in economic history

Sport is a multibillion dollar industry. Television rights are keenly competed over by rival broadcasters. Textile manufacturers capitalize on the popularity and at times tribal following of sporting teams. Players who were once amateurs often command salaries which dwarf some of those paid to the most highlypaid professionals in the labour market. Governments are heavily involved in the sector – they provide subsidies and allow regulatory exemptions from rules that would be binding for many nonsports sectors. How did this come about? As the prominence and importance of sport as an industry has risen, so too has public and academic interest. Media and fans pore over statistics and relish the chance to try and predict often unpredictable results. In economics, a significant literature has emerged. Topics range from analysis of major public policy issues such as corruption of governing bodies and subsidies to the sector by governments through to game theoretic predictions over player behaviour. This literature is large and rich with different questions and applications. This book represents a collection of chapters which examine a variety of sports economics issues through the lens of economic history. It covers a variety of different sports, continents and periods to provide insight into the development and history of sport across the world. The interest generated by sport often leads to record keeping that is not characteristic of other sectors of the economy. The availability of data and records makes sports economics an interesting field to examine a wide range of economic issues: the rewards to athletes and organisers, issues surrounding

Sports Through the Lens of Economic History

From professional team sports to international events such as the Olympics and Tour de France, the modern sports industry continues to attract a large number of spectators and participants. This book, edited by Richard Pomfret and John K. Wilson analyzes the economic evolution of sports over the last 150 years, from a pastime activity to a big business enterprise. It begins at a time when entrepreneurs and players first started making money from professional sports leagues, through to the impact of radio and TV in the twentieth century, and onto the present day.

Roles of Education in Productivity Growth in Australia, 1860–1939

Despite a significant literature comparing Europe and the USA, and linking education and human capital to growth and development, there is virtually no research in the Australian context which attempts to investigate this link empirically. Australia is an interesting case because it was one of the worlds wealthiest nations in the late nineteenth century. The economy was built on agriculture and mining, but there was no obvious evidence of a natural resource curse despite losing ground on the leading nations. This study fills a gap in the literature by examining the effect of education and schooling on productivity growth between 1860 and 1939 using a unique dataset from the colony of Victoria. Using a growth accounting exercise, we examine the role of productivity changes in the overall growth picture of Victoria and Australia as a whole. We find evidence for productivity-led growth for both. Exploring the relationship between productivity and education measures, we find that while primary school enrolments were important to sustain productivity growth throughout the period, tertiary education was more effective in the first half of the twentieth century.

Labor Market Outcomes in Settler Economies between 1870 and 1913: Accounting for Differences in Labor Hours and Occupations

This chapter focuses on labor market outcomes and what attention to differences in outcomes; between occupations, regions, and countries, may tell us about the development of the labor market and the economy generally, and settler economies in particular. It reviews some of what is known about labor markets in some settler economies and discusses some of the limitations to our knowledge. The chapter tackles two areas where current knowledge is limited, working hours and the selection of representative occupations, with a view to assessing whether variations in these factors impacts on the overall understanding of settler economies in the late 19th century. It also examines the labor market outcomes of some European settled portions of the Americas and Australasia (but not Africa). The chapter aims to determine whether previous findings based on constant labor hours, or on one or two occupational groups, remain relatively stable when new information is introduced. Keywords:labor hours; labor market outcomes; representative occupations; settler economies; working hours

Following Zahka: Using Nobel Prize Winners' Speeches and Ideas to Teach Economics.

Over 20 years ago, the late William Zahka (1990, 1998) outlined how the acceptance speeches of those who received the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science could be used to teach undergraduates. This article updates and expands Zahkas work, identifying some of the issues discussed by recent Nobel Laureates, classifying their speeches by topic and level of difficulty, and providing some examples of how their work could be integrated into undergraduate courses. Particular examples illustrate how the material might be used in introductory and later courses, and the Laureates’ insights on research are discussed.