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Causal effects of an absent crowd on performances and refereeing decisions during Covid-19

Bryson, A., Dolton, P., Reade, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8610-530X, Schreyer, D. and Singleton, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8247-8830 (2021) Causal effects of an absent crowd on performances and refereeing decisions during Covid-19. Economics Letters, 198. 109664. ISSN 0165-1765

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To link to this item DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109664

Abstract/Summary

The Covid-19 pandemic has induced worldwide natural experiments on the effects of crowds. We exploit one of these experiments that took place over several countries in almost identical settings: professional football matches played behind closed doors within the 2019/20 league seasons. We find large and statistically significant effects on the number of yellow cards issued by referees. Without a crowd, fewer cards were awarded to the away teams, reducing home advantage. These results have implications for the influence of social pressure and crowds on the neutrality of decisions.

Item Type:Article
Refereed:Yes
Divisions:Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Economics
ID Code:94421
Uncontrolled Keywords:Attendance; Coronavirus; Covid-19; Home advantage; Natural Experiments; Referee Bias; Social Pressure
Publisher:Elsevier

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