Beautiful game theory : how soccer can help economics / Ignacio Palacios-Huerta.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 195-204) and index.

First Half --
1 Pele Meets John von Neumann in the Penalty Area 9 --
2 Vernon Smith Meets Messi in the Laboratory 31 --
3 Lessons for Experimental Design 45 --
4 Mapping Minimax in the Brain / Antonio Olivero Olivero, Antonio, Sven Bestmann Bestmann, Sven, Jose Florensa Vila Vila, Jose Florensa, Jose Apesteguia Apesteguia, Jose 58 --
5 Psychological Pressure on the Field and Elsewhere 68 --
Half Time --
6 Scoring at Halftime 89 --
Second Half --
7 Favoritism under Social Pressure 107 --
8 Making the Beautiful Game a Bit Less Beautiful / Lids Garicano Garicano, Lids 124 --
9 Fear Pitch 151 --
10 From Argentina without Emotions 164 --
11 Discrimination: From the Makana Football Association to Europe 174--
Acknowledgments 193--
References 195--
Index 205.

"A wealth of research in recent decades has seen the economic approach to human behavior extended over many areas previously considered to belong to sociology, political science, law, and other fields. Research has also shown that economics can illuminate many aspects of sports, including soccer. Beautiful Game Theory is the first book that uses soccer to test economic theories and document novel human behavior.In this brilliant and entertaining book, Ignacio Palacios-Huerta illuminates economics through the world's most popular sport. He offers unique and often startling insights into game theory and microeconomics, covering topics such as mixed strategies, discrimination, incentives, and human preferences. He also looks at finance, experimental economics, behavioral economics, and neuroeconomics. Soccer provides rich data sets and environments that shed light on universal economic principles in interesting and useful ways.Essential reading for students, researchers, and sports enthusiasts, Beautiful Game Theory is the first book to show what soccer can do for economics"--