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 provide insight into 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.
About the AuthorIgnacio Palacios-Huerta is professor of management, economics, and strategy at the London School of Economics, and head of talent identification at Athletic Club de Bilbao, a professional soccer club in Spain.
Reviews"[E]njoyably accessible to nonspecialists, especially sports enthusiasts, who will learn a great deal about soccer, economics, and human behavior more generally."--Foreign Affairs "Beautiful Game Theory shows what it is like to think deeply about a sport and to test your ideas with data... [I]t is a book I recommend unconditionally to those economists with even a passing sport."--John Considine, Sportseconomics.org
Book InformationISBN 9780691169255
Author Ignacio Palacios-HuertaFormat Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Princeton University PressPublisher Princeton University Press
Weight(grams) 340g