Episode Details

In the NBA, predominantly Black players play in front of predominantly non-Black fans. Profs. Somekh and Falco use the ‘NBA bubble’, a natural experiment induced by COVID-19, to test whether the performance of Black players was affected by the absence of fans. In brief, their key finding is that Black athletes performed better relative to White players in the bubble when the fans weren’t present.

What data did the authors use and how did they set up their tests? Are their findings due to race – or to something else? What are the implications for the sport, the NBA, and the players themselves?

Larry Zicklin (BBA, ’57) discusses these questions with Prof. Babak Somekh, Lecturer in the Bert W. Wasserman Department of Economics and Finance, and Prof. Paolo Falco, Visiting Assistant Professor, Stanford University, and Assistant Professor of Economics, University of Copenhagen. With an introduction by Interim Dean Paquita Davis-Friday and a Q&A session moderated by Associate Dean Gwen Webb.

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