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Good Girl, Bad Boy: Corrupt Behavior in Professional Tennis

Author

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  • Jetter, Michael

    (University of Western Australia)

  • Walker, Jay K.

    (Old Dominion University)

Abstract

This paper identifies matches on the male and female professional tennis tours in which one player faces a high payoff from being “on the bubble” of direct entry into one of the lucrative Grand Slam tournaments, while their opposition does not. Analyzing over 378,000 matches provides strong evidence for corrupt behavior on the men's tour, as bubble players are substantially more likely to beat better ranked opponents when a win is desperately needed. However, we find no such evidence on the women's tour. These results prevail throughout a series of extensions and robustness checks, highlighting gender differences regarding corrupt and unethical behavior, but also concerning collusion. We especially find evidence for collusion once monetary incentives are further increased. Finally, the market for sports betting does not seem to be aware of this phenomenon, suggesting a market imperfection and further confirming our suspicion of irregular activities in men's tennis.

Suggested Citation

  • Jetter, Michael & Walker, Jay K., 2015. "Good Girl, Bad Boy: Corrupt Behavior in Professional Tennis," IZA Discussion Papers 8824, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8824
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    Cited by:

    1. Denisova-Schmidt, Elena & Huber, Martin & Prytula, Yaroslav, 2015. "An experimental evaluation of an anti-corruption intervention among Ukrainian university students," FSES Working Papers 462, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    2. De Paola, Maria & Scoppa, Vincenzo, 2015. "Gender Differences in Reaction to Psychological Pressure: Evidence from Tennis Players," IZA Discussion Papers 9315, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Elena Denisova-Schmidt & Martin Huber & Elvira Leontyeva & Anna Solovyeva, 2021. "Combining experimental evidence with machine learning to assess anti-corruption educational campaigns among Russian university students," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 60(4), pages 1661-1684, April.
    4. Denisova-Schmidt, Elena & Huber, Martin & Leontyeva, Elvira, 2016. "On the development of students’ attitudes towards corruption and cheating in Russian universities," FSES Working Papers 467, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, University of Freiburg/Fribourg Switzerland.
    5. Elena Denisova-Schmidt & Martin Huber & Elvira Leontyeva, 2016. "Do Anti-Corruption Educational Campaigns Reach Students? Some Evidence from Russia and Ukraine," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 1, pages 61-83.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Oaxaca decomposition; gender differences; corruption; cheating; sport; tennis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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