Causal effects of an absent crowd on performances and refereeing decisions during Covid-19

Bryson, A., Dolton, P., Reade, J. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8610-530X, Schreyer, D. and Singleton, C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8247-8830 (2021) Causal effects of an absent crowd on performances and refereeing decisions during Covid-19. Economics Letters, 198. 109664. ISSN 0165-1765 doi: 10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109664

Abstract/Summary

The Covid-19 pandemic has induced worldwide natural experiments on the effects of crowds. We exploit one of these experiments that took place over several countries in almost identical settings: professional football matches played behind closed doors within the 2019/20 league seasons. We find large and statistically significant effects on the number of yellow cards issued by referees. Without a crowd, fewer cards were awarded to the away teams, reducing home advantage. These results have implications for the influence of social pressure and crowds on the neutrality of decisions.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-pure-test.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/94421
Identification Number/DOI	10.1016/j.econlet.2020.109664
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Politics, Economics and International Relations > Economics
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