Yes! Of course Twitter is part of economics. Each day there are millions of users supplying content at essentially no cost (granted, some of it is more valuable than others). At the exact same time (unless your Kanye West), there are people you can follow and get updates from. Every fraction of a second, supply and demand factors are occurring right in front of our computer screens. What does this have to do with economics you ask? Who you decide to follow is a choice, and that choice is based on some characteristics of the individual. For the most part, we follow our friends, a few fast food restaurants, and some celebrities.
Using Regular Express, a colleague and I have captured demand characteristics for pundits. We evaluate whether a professional prognosticator, like Nate Silver, earns more followers (more demand) whenever they supply confidence or accuracy. We collected tweets from the 2012 MLB playoffs and World Series, the 2013 NFL Super Bowl, and currently combing through the 2013 NCAA March Madness tournament. Our samples are based on demand for professional pundits (verified Twitter accounts), self-proclaimed professionals (based on their Twitter bio), and the general public.
The results might surprise you!
Thank you to WSU News for covering our research. If you're interested in reading the more technical results, they can be found on my colleague's site.
Showing posts with label my research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label my research. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Ranked Nationalities Gets Help From the Toronto Star
I'm on the cusp of submitting my first research article to the Journal of Sports Economics, and came across an article in the Toronto Star from October 28, 2012 regarding the foiled attempt by Major League Soccer to sign Swedish superstar Olof Mellberg. Toronto and Mellberg came to an agreement that the Swedish defender would play for Toronto (one of the least successful teams this year) for $3 million over 2 years. Once submitted to the league, it was rejected because the league is in charge of all player's salaries and felt that it's best to consider the longterm health of the league when signing designated players.
Reporter Cathal Kelly believes that if finical reasons weren't to blame, it had to be for two other possible reasons. Mellberg is a Swede, who appeals to none of MLS's ethnic target markets or because he's a defender and not a flashy forward. The belief still follows that the league must not find Swedish players marketable to the MLS audience, which is exactly the finding I investigated when examining ranked nationalities. Only the top countries in Europe received wage premiums relative to their English counterparts, which suggests that owners/fans prefer (and our willing to pay for) players from England, Germany, Italy, or France for example, but not "lower tiered Europeans" like the Swedes.
What convenient timing for my research and poor timing for Olof.
Reporter Cathal Kelly believes that if finical reasons weren't to blame, it had to be for two other possible reasons. Mellberg is a Swede, who appeals to none of MLS's ethnic target markets or because he's a defender and not a flashy forward. The belief still follows that the league must not find Swedish players marketable to the MLS audience, which is exactly the finding I investigated when examining ranked nationalities. Only the top countries in Europe received wage premiums relative to their English counterparts, which suggests that owners/fans prefer (and our willing to pay for) players from England, Germany, Italy, or France for example, but not "lower tiered Europeans" like the Swedes.
What convenient timing for my research and poor timing for Olof.
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