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The Color of Disaster Assistance

National Guard troops at the New Orleans Convention Center distribute disaster assistance days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. A study tested whether subconscious racial bias could affect distribution of aid to victims.
National Guard troops at the New Orleans Convention Center distribute disaster assistance days after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. A study tested whether subconscious racial bias could affect distribution of aid to victims. (By Mario Tama -- Getty Images)
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Boring!

Now a University of Southern California economist has applied incentive theory to propose a change in soccer rules that he argues will put more energy -- and perhaps a few more goals -- into soccer.

Juan D. Carrillo proposes conducting free kicks in tie games immediately after regulation time, then playing the overtime period even if one team scored more penalty kicks. If the team that lost the penalty kicks scores a goal in the overtime period, it wins. The penalty kicks only count if the tie is preserved.

"If penalties are shot before overtime, then the team that has won the penalty kicks has greatest incentives to play defensively in order to preserve a tie which is enough to obtain the maximal reward," Carrillo writes in a working paper available on his Web site. "On the opposite side, the team that has lost the penalty kicks has greatest incentives to play offensively so as to break the tie and avoid getting no reward."

Who Would Have Thought?

Fat Jobs, Sex Power and Pro Golf News

" Not all jobs are suitable for fat people: Experimental evidence of a link between being fat and 'out of sight' jobs" by Beatrice Venturini et al. Social Behavior and Personality Vol. 34 No. 4. Italian psychologists determine that people think fat men and women are poorly suited for jobs that require them to have contact with the public.

"Is Power Sexy?" by John Levi Martin. American Journal of Sociology Vol. 111 No. 2. A University of Wisconsin sociologist analyzes data collected from more than 3,000 people living in 60 U.S. communes and determines that, at least in the counter-culture, "there is indeed a connection between sexiness and power [but] it is instead women whose high status increases their sexiness to men."

"Comprehensive Analysis of Golf Performance on the PGA Tour: 1990-2004" by Frederick Wiseman and Sangit Chatterjee. Perceptual and Motor Skills Vol. 102 No. 1. Northeastern University business school researchers find that professional golfers are increasingly hitting longer but less accurate drives.


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