Academic

Catching My Eye

By Tim Zinnecker

Baseball season will soon be upon us.   (I could drop a reference here to Ernie Harwell and "the voice of the turtle," but most readers would have no clue as to what I'm talking about.)   So imagine my delight when I received a draft of a paper co-authored by University of Washington law prof Steve Calandrillo (pictured top) and  Davis Wright Tremaine associate Dustin Buehler (pictured bottom), titled "Baseball's Moral Hazard:  Law, Economics and the Designated Hitter Rule."    From the abstract: 

Using a law-and-economics approach, this Article concludes that the designated hitter rule creates some moral hazard, but finds that recent structural changes to the game have largely overshadowed this effect. Moreover, the benefits of the rule?including increased offense and attendance?likely outweigh its costs in the American League.  This is not necessarily true in the National League, however, due to differences in fan preferences. Thus, the current hybrid system (in which the American League allows designated hitters while the National League does not) best effectuates these fan preferences, maximizing social welfare.

It "strikes" me as an interesting thesis.  Steve and Dustin, who have co-authored previous articles together, probably have another "hit."  I'm guessing they would invite readers to "pitch" any comments their way.

Full post as published by The Faculty Lounge on March 01, 2010 (boomark / email).