Baseball course page

The Economics of Baseball

(Fall 2009 is when I expect to teach this class, a.k.a. Eco 383, again.)

Prof. Ranjit Dighe. To e-mail me, click here.

Office: Mahar 450. Office hours: TBA.

Required texts for when I last taught this class (in Fall 2008; extras may still be available at The College Store and Kraftees):

Andrew Zimbalist. May the Best Team Win: Baseball Economics and Public Policy. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution, 2004.
J.C. Bradbury. The Baseball Economist: The Real Game Exposed. New York: Dutton/Penguin, 2007.
Forbes magazine. Special baseball issue, 2008.
Eco 383 course reading packet.

PowerPoint slides from the lectures:

September 2008 (actually through 2 Oct. 2008)
October 13 - mid-November 2008 (last revised 30 Oct. 2008)

Franchise Finances (last revised 30 Oct. 2008)

One from a past semester that just might be of interest:

MLB's Labor Economic History, 1945-present (2005 slides)

(If you cannot view PowerPoint slides on your computer, you can download a PowerPoint viewer through the College's technical support page.)

Featured baseball/economics columns and articles (optional reading):

Some suggestions for improving the World Series and by extension the game's long-term customer base, from Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated (cover story, 10 Nov. 2008)
C.C. rides the gravy train, but a lot of people think the recession will ultimately take its toll on free agents in general this winter (ESPN, 11 Dec. 2008)
Baseball salaries increase to $2.9 million in 2008, but the rate of increase is the slowest in four years (5 Dec. 2008)
The Mitchell report on steroid use in MLB, one year later (ESPN, 26 Nov. 2008)
The supposedly privately funded new stadiums for the Yankees and Mets will cost taxpayers about $1 billion in infrastructure improvements, tax breaks, etc. (New York Times, 4 Nov. 2008)

And that's not all, says Neil deMause (Village Voice, 30 Nov. 2008)

A list of the Top 50 free agents for the winter (2008-2009)

Many of the free agents on this Top 50 list from 2004 could be used as lessons against giving out big multi-year deals to free agents. (There are some success stories in there too, though.)

Commissioner Bud Selig tells the owners not to get too "cocky" in raising ticket prices
Jim Caple of ESPN.com (aided by a lot of quotes from Ball Four author Jim Bouton) says Marvin Miller belongs in the Hall of Fame
Michael Lewis of Washington University says MLB's revenue-sharing plan has backfired and says he's got a better alternative ("Baseball's Losing Formula," New York Times, 3 Nov. 2007).
Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated has a great idea about how to tweak MLB's wild-card system to make the game's playoff races more meaningful, which could only help the demand for the game down the stretch ("Pure Fiction: Debunking the Biggest Myths of MLB's Wild-Card Era," SI.com, 25 Sept. 2007).

Salary arbitration and related information:

Perennial favorites:

Back to basics: Reviewing economic principles

Prof. Dighe's review of economic principles (goes with early lectures)

Alas, these notes do not include graphs. Below, however, are some related notes, courtesy of Prof. John Kane, with multicolor graphics. One would do well to take a look at these, too:

Prof. Kane's notes on supply, demand, pricing, and profits in a perfectly competitive market

Prof. Kane's notes on monopoly pricing and the dead-weight loss from monopoly.

(See especially the "Comparison of perfect competition and monopoly.")

Regressions: For Fall 2007's attendance-regression assignment (or any other purpose): a very helpful and readable guide to running two-variable regressions in Excel, from an econ professor at UC-Davis

The current syllabus is not online. Anyone curious to see an old syllabus can check out my Fall 2002 or Fall 2001 syllabus.

Some baseball and general links that may prove helpful in researching your debate topics
(but keep in mind that they are complements to, not substitutes for, the course textbooks and reading packet):

Still more baseball links:

Last revised on 7 January 2009