Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/265122 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 1178
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
In the NBA, predominantly Black players play in front of predominantly non-Black fans. Using the 'NBA bubble', a natural experiment induced by COVID-19, we show that the performance of Black players improved significantly with the absence of fans vis-à-vis White players. This is consistent with Black athletes being negatively affected by racist pressure from mostly non-Black audiences. We dispel several alternative hypotheses. Beyond hurting individual players, fans' behavior causes significant economic damage to the NBA by lowering the quality of the game.
Subjects: 
discrimination
harassment
racism
performance
basketball
NBA
COVID-19
JEL: 
D91
J15
J71
Z22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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