Sub-Perfect Game: Profitable Biases of NBA Referees
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چکیده
This paper empirically investigates three hypotheses regarding biases of National Basketball Association (NBA) referees. Using a sample of 28,388 quarter-level observations from six seasons, we find that referees make calls that favor home teams, teams losing during games, and teams losing in playoff series. All three biases are likely to increase league revenues. In order to distinguish between referee and player behavior we use play-by-play data, which allow us to analyze turnovers referees have relatively high and low discretion over separately. JEL Classification Numbers: K42, L12, L83
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Sub-Perfect Game: Profitable Biases of NBA Referees∗
This paper empirically investigates three hypotheses of biased officiating by National Basketball Association (NBA) referees. Using a sample of 28,388 quarter-level observations from six seasons, we find that NBA referees make calls that favor home teams, teams losing during games, and teams losing in playoff series. All of these biases are likely to be profitable to the league. We identify the...
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