Abstract
This paper explores the connection between discrimination and entrepreneurship. To pursue this inquiry we focus on the integration of black players in Major League Baseball (MLB). MLB team owners, acting as entrepreneurs, had to weigh the benefits of integrating versus the costs of alienating consumers who had a taste for discrimination against hiring blacks. We find that the owners whose teams could profit by contending for the league pennant with the addition of black players were the ones who were willing to take the risk of integrating, although integration often stood in contrast to revealed consumer preferences. In addition to illuminating the mechanism through which integration took place, we offer a general understanding of how the costs and benefits associated with consumers’ taste for discrimination can change via entrepreneurial activities.
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Notes
We gratefully acknowledge Rodney Fort who maintains and provides the data on his website and makes it freely available.
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Acknowledgment
We would like to thank Ron Baker, Peter Boettke and Peter Leeson for useful comments. Christopher Coyne acknowledges the financial assistance of the Mercatus Center.
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Coyne, C.J., Isaacs, J.P., Schwartz, J.T. et al. Put me in, Coach, I’m ready to play. Rev Austrian Econ 20, 237–246 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-007-0025-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11138-007-0025-1