Group of Death?

Typically, when the Healthcare Economist talks about death, it deals with sad topics: mortality rates, preventable deaths, etc.  Today, I will discuss a happier death-related topic: the feared “Group of Death”. The World Cup Groups were unveiled today and popular press is claiming that the U.S. team is placed in the Group of Death.  There…

Pay College Players

It’s time to start paying college sports players. Watching the ‘Fab Five’ documentary and lots of college basketball this weekend has only confirmed my belief.  People may think that the professional sports leagues like the NFL, NBA, and the MLB make a killing.  It’s true. They do.  Buy many college sports programs also bring in…

NFL Season Begins

The NFL season began yesterday.  To celebrate, here are three football related links: Football and Randomness Two quarterbacks?  Six eligible receivers?  An undermanned California high school football teamed use the untraditional A-11 formation to win 7 of 11 games.  The key? “In a standard formation with five fixed linemen, a play can unfold with 36…

Playing sports increases your paycheck

The WSJ Real Time Economics blog reviews a paper by Michael Lechner which finds that “sports-playing adults saw a boost in income of about 1,200 euros per year over 16 years when compared to their less active peers. That translates into a 5-10% rate of return on sports activities, roughly equal to the benefit of…