IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/jospec/v24y2023i5p551-578.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Mass Gathering Sport Events and the Spread of Viral Respiratory Infection: Japanese Professional Baseball and Influenza

Author

Listed:
  • Hiroaki Funahashi
  • Alexander Cardazzi
  • Nicholas Masafumi Watanabe

Abstract

Using weekly-level influenza case data from all 47 prefectures in Japan alongside data from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league from 1999 to 2018, we examine the effect of hosting games on local influenza transmission. The results highlight that during the flu season, for every NPB game held at its home ballpark, there is an average increase of 0.18 cases per sentinel medical institution (SMI) between that week and the following week. The effects are robust to different specifications and placebo tests. This translates to about a 0.1% increase in the number of cases during the overlap of NPB and flu seasons.

Suggested Citation

  • Hiroaki Funahashi & Alexander Cardazzi & Nicholas Masafumi Watanabe, 2023. "Mass Gathering Sport Events and the Spread of Viral Respiratory Infection: Japanese Professional Baseball and Influenza," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(5), pages 551-578, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:24:y:2023:i:5:p:551-578
    DOI: 10.1177/15270025221143978
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/15270025221143978
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/15270025221143978?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles Stoecker & Nicholas J. Sanders & Alan Barreca, 2016. "Success Is Something to Sneeze At: Influenza Mortality in Cities that Participate in the Super Bowl," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 2(1), pages 125-143, Winter.
    2. Jérôme Adda, 2016. "Economic Activity and the Spread of Viral Diseases: Evidence from High Frequency Data," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(2), pages 891-941.
    3. Daniel Montolio & Simón Planells-Struse, 2019. "Measuring the negative externalities of a private leisure activity: hooligans and pickpockets around the stadium," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 19(2), pages 465-504.
    4. Yun Qiu & Xi Chen & Wei Shi, 2020. "Impacts of social and economic factors on the transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1127-1172, October.
    5. Dennis Mares & Emily Blackburn, 2019. "Major League Baseball and Crime: Opportunity, Spatial Patterns, and Team Rivalry at St. Louis Cardinal Games," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 20(7), pages 875-902, October.
    6. Chad Cotti & Bryan Engelhardt & Joshua Foster & Erik Nesson & Paul Niekamp, 2021. "The relationship between in‐person voting and COVID‐19: Evidence from the Wisconsin primary," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 39(4), pages 760-777, October.
    7. Hyunwoong Pyun & Joshua C. Hall, 2019. "Does the presence of professional football cause crime in a city? Evidence from Pontiac, Michigan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(36), pages 3958-3970, August.
    8. Alexander Ahammer & Martin Halla & Mario Lackner, 2020. "Mass Gatherings Contributed to Early COVID-19 Mortality: Evidence from US Sports," Economics working papers 2020-13, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    9. Fang, Hanming & Wang, Long & Yang, Yang, 2020. "Human mobility restrictions and the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    10. Dhaval Dave & Andrew I. Friedson & Kyutaro Matsuzawa & Joseph J. Sabia, 2021. "When Do Shelter‐In‐Place Orders Fight Covid‐19 Best? Policy Heterogeneity Across States And Adoption Time," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(1), pages 29-52, January.
    11. Dave, Dhaval M. & Friedson, Andrew I. & McNichols, Drew & Sabia, Joseph J., 2020. "The Contagion Externality of a Superspreading Event: The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally and COVID-19," IZA Discussion Papers 13670, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Brad R. Humphreys & Hyunwoong Pyun, 2018. "Professional sporting events and traffic: Evidence from U.S. cities," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(5), pages 869-886, November.
    13. Alexander Cardazzi & Brad Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski & Brian P. Soebbing & Nicholas Watanabe, 2020. "Professional Sporting Events Increase Seasonal Influenza Mortality in US Cities," Working Papers 20-08, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    14. Andrew I. Friedson & Drew McNichols & Joseph J. Sabia & Dhaval Dave, 2020. "Did California’s Shelter-in-Place Order Work? Early Coronavirus-Related Public Health Effects," NBER Working Papers 26992, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Brad R. Humphreys, 2019. "Should The Construction Of New Professional Sports Facilities Be Subsidized?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 38(1), pages 264-270, January.
    16. Brad R. Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski, 2019. "Geographic Determinants of Infant Health: The Impact of Sports Facility Construction Projects," Working Papers 19-06, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    17. Matthew Olczak & J. James Reade & Matthew Yeo, 2020. "Mass Outdoor Events and the Spread of a Virus: English Football and Covid-19," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2020-19, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    18. Geoffrey Propheter, 2020. "Do urban sports facilities have unique social costs? An analysis of event-related congestion on police response time," International Journal of Urban Sciences, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 271-281, April.
    19. Hyunwoong Pyun, 2019. "Exploring causal relationship between Major League Baseball games and crime: a synthetic control analysis," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 365-383, July.
    20. Charles Stoecker & Nicholas J. Sanders & Alan Barreca, 2016. "Success Is Something to Sneeze At: Influenza Mortality in Cities that Participate in the Super Bowl," American Journal of Health Economics, MIT Press, vol. 2(1), pages 125-143, January.
    21. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Neeraj Kaushal & Ashley N. Muchow, 2021. "Timing of social distancing policies and COVID-19 mortality: county-level evidence from the U.S," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(4), pages 1445-1472, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. J. James Reade, 2023. "Large Sporting Events and Public Health and Safety," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2023-04, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    2. Porreca, Zachary, 2024. "Identifying the General Equilibrium Effects of Narcotics Enforcement," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1455, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    3. Zachary Porreca, 2024. "Identifying the General Equilibrium Effects of Narcotics Enforcement," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 24227, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mangrum, Daniel & Niekamp, Paul, 2022. "JUE Insight: College student travel contributed to local COVID-19 spread," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    2. Fischer Kai, 2022. "Thinning out spectators: Did football matches contribute to the second COVID-19 wave in Germany?," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 23(4), pages 595-640, December.
    3. Alexander Ahammer & Martin Halla & Mario Lackner, 2023. "Mass gatherings contributed to early COVID‐19 mortality: Evidence from US sports," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 41(3), pages 471-488, July.
    4. Carlin, Patrick R. & Minard, Paul & Simon, Daniel H. & Wing, Coady, 2021. "Effects of large gatherings on the COVID-19 epidemic: Evidence from professional and college sports," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    5. Ján Palguta & Levínský, René & Škoda, Samuel, 2021. "Do Elections Accelerate the COVID-19 Pandemic? Evidence from a Natural Experiment," GLO Discussion Paper Series 891, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Brad R. Humphreys, 2023. "Professional Sports Subsidies and Urban Congestion Externalities: Assessing 50 Years of Failed Urban Economic Development Policies," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 49(4), pages 457-474, October.
    7. Hiroaki Funahashi & Shintaro Sato & Takuya Furukawa, 2022. "COVID-19 and Attendance Demand for Professional Sport in Japan: A Multilevel Analysis of Repeated Cross-Sectional National Data during the Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-10, April.
    8. J. James Reade, 2023. "Large Sporting Events and Public Health and Safety," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2023-04, Department of Economics, University of Reading.
    9. Ján Palguta & René Levínský & Samuel Škoda, 2022. "Do elections accelerate the COVID-19 pandemic?," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(1), pages 197-240, January.
    10. J. James Reade & Dominik Schreyer & Carl Singleton, 2022. "Eliminating supportive crowds reduces referee bias," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(3), pages 1416-1436, July.
    11. Brad R. Humphreys & Gary A. Wagner & John C. Whitehead & Pamela Wicker, "undated". "Willingness to pay for COVID-19 environmental health risk reductions in consumption: Evidence from U.S. professional sports," Working Papers 21-05, Department of Economics, Appalachian State University.
    12. John Charles Bradbury, 2022. "Does hosting a professional sports team benefit the local community? Evidence from property assessments," Economics of Governance, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 219-252, December.
    13. Vincenzo Alfano, 2022. "COVID-19 Diffusion Before Awareness: The Role of Football Match Attendance in Italy," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 23(5), pages 503-523, June.
    14. Carl Singleton & Alex Bryson & Peter Dolton & James Reade & Dominik Schreyer, 2022. "Economics lessons from sports during the COVID-19 pandemic," Chapters, in: Paul M. Pedersen (ed.), Research Handbook on Sport and COVID-19, chapter 2, pages 9-18, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. John Charles Bradbury, 2022. "The impact of sports stadiums on localized commercial activity: Evidence from a Business Improvement District," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(1), pages 194-217, January.
    16. Alexander Cardazzi & Brad Humphreys & Jane E. Ruseski & Brian P. Soebbing & Nicholas Watanabe, 2020. "Professional Sporting Events Increase Seasonal Influenza Mortality in US Cities," Working Papers 20-08, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    17. Brad R. Humphreys & Gary A. Wagner & John C. Whitehead & Pamela Wicker, 2023. "Willingness to pay for policies to reduce health risks from COVID‐19: Evidence from U.S. professional sports," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 218-231, January.
    18. Guilhem Cassan & Marc Sangnier, 2022. "The impact of 2020 French municipal elections on the spread of COVID-19," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 35(3), pages 963-988, July.
    19. Geoffrey Propheter, 2023. "Sports Facilities as a Housing Amenity: Do Prices Follow Facilities?," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(4), pages 443-474, May.
    20. J. James Reade & Dominik Schreyer & Carl Singleton, 2020. "Echoes: what happens when football is played behind closed doors?," Economics Discussion Papers em-dp2020-14, Department of Economics, University of Reading.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:24:y:2023:i:5:p:551-578. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.