At least in the NBA, it is good, as reported by Price, Lefgren, and Tappen:
Using data from the National Basketball Association (NBA), we examine
whether patterns of workplace cooperation occur disproportionately
among workers of the same race. We find that, holding constant the
composition of teammates on the floor, basketball players are no more
likely to complete an assist to a player of the same race than a player
of a different race. Our confidence interval allows us to reject even
small amounts of same-race bias in passing patterns. Our findings
suggest that high levels of interracial cooperation can occur in a
setting where workers are operating in a highly visible setting with
strong incentives to behave efficiently.
Here is the paper, here are ungated copies.
the NBA? what an unfortunate starting point.
hasn’t the culture of the NBA, evident in every media appearance suggest a particular masculine culture? what of the openly gay player shunned by his roommates? role of women in finance (shoulder pads)? does this paper really get to any fundamental questions?
why oh why can’t we have an integrated social science?
It’s a journal publication, not a manifesto.
“Our findings suggest that high levels of interracial cooperation can occur in a setting where workers are operating in a highly visible setting with strong incentives to behave efficiently”
That potentially rules out most government work, most union jobs, etc. Give Price, Lefgren, and Tappen some credit, they were smart enough to get paid to watch NBA games, without proving much
I took micro from Lefgren. Cool guy. And yeah, he got paid and published for watching basketball. Genius.
But if, as previous empirical lit. indicates, referees tend to discriminate, wouldn’t it be optimal for players to discriminate as well by not providing the assist to certain teammates?
So nothing measuring the quality of the player passed too? The study should attempt to use some measure of shooting prowess (like TS%) to hold constant. Derek Fisher isn’t passing to Kobe over Vujacic because Kobe is black, he’s passing to Kobe because he’s a better player.
That New York Times article on Shane Battier pretty much said that players aren’t well-incentivized to be efficient, though. (At least, they tend to enhance individual over team glory; you’d want people acting in team interests if you wanted to look at interracial interactions.)
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