Cultural and Sport Economics: Conceptual Twins?

Abstract

Is there a role for sports economics in arts research? Despite references to similarities between the arts and sports (especially community impacts, demand interdependencies, and the presence of superstars), the two burgeoning literatures operate in near isolation from one another. This parochialism is not justified by legitimate distinctions; arts labor analysis, in particular, could benefit from sports research. This paper demonstrates this proposition with a focus on: team production functions and income dispersion; unions and rent distribution; managerial and director productivity; earnings functions and changing talent distributions related to competing superstar theories; and career development, screening and human capital theory.