Handbook of sports economics research, edited by Fizel, J. Armonk, NY and London: M.E. Sharpe, 2006, Viii+280pp., USD 75.95 (cloth).
Abstract
The article reviews the book "Handbook of Sports Economics Research," edited by Fizel, J. Armonk. Sports economics is a growing field in the discipline, and as new scholars enter the field, a compilation of existing research is helpful. The essays in John Fizel’s Handbook of Sports Economics Research do an excellent job of summarizing previous advances and highlighting further questions in sports economics. In his opening essay, Fizel points out why sports economics is gaining in popularity as a discipline. Sports are interesting, offer the opportunity to study unique organizational structures}firms simultaneously competing and cooperating} and act as a laboratory for empirical researchers wishing to observe human beings responding to well-defined incentives and constraints. Anyone who wants to know the state of the discipline will be fully aware of all that is going in the economics of sports community by reading this volume. Beyond the introductory essays, the volume has six chapters devoted to particular sports, two chapters on the sports industry, and three chapters on research methods. Additionally, the volume offers a 25-page list of references to research in sports economics.