Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/36061 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4812
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We empirically explore the relevance of risk taking behavior in tournaments. We make use of data from the NBA season 2007/2008 and measure risk taking by the fraction of three-point shots. Current heterogeneity of teams is taken into account by intermediate results. It turns out that indeed teams who are behind increase the risk in terms of more three-point attempts. We additionally analyze the consequences of this change in behavior. Enhanced risk taking is inefficient for the vast majority of cases and only beneficial in terms of a higher winning probability if a team is behind with a rather large amount of points. We discuss possible explanations for these decision errors.
Subjects: 
Basketball
NBA
risk taking
tournaments
JEL: 
M5
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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