Synthesizing Research on Economics in Rugby

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The economic principle I examined was people (usually) respond to incentives in predictable ways. There are many situations where this economic principle can be applied to the real world. For instance, while studying rugby in economics I found many examples of this principle. First, rugby matches, inside and outside the United States, bring in a huge amount of income. Not only are they less expensive to put on, at least compared to soccer or football, but they also bring in a huge amount of income from flights, tourism, and match tickets. Since people are predictable, this shows many people see these incentives and try to sponsor this event or put it on in their country or state. When money is on the table, people are going to react in predictable ways, and in this case, it is trying to put on more matches in their country.

Second, the number of incentives for playing rugby in college or professionally is large. It makes you stronger, helps you make strong connections with people, and there is a high demand for rugby players so it is easy to join today. But as the sport grows, more people are seeing the benefits and wanting to join while others see it as a threat to other sports, such as football or soccer. This demonstrates that, obviously, people are predictable when it comes to the incentives of this growing sport. Many people will see it as an opportunity to get into an amazing sport while others will see it as something that is creeping in to steal the thunder to their favorite pastimes.

Third, the incentives for our younger generation to play are also growing. As the sport grows throughout the United States, more and more kids and parents want to join or want their kids to join. This means that youth rugby is growing, and when parents and kids are seeing and reaping the benefits of rugby, they are predictable in the fact that they will continue to play and recommend others to play

Overall, you can see that people are predictable. When they see that rugby matches gain money or that their kids will gain new life skills or that it will solidify them a spot in the professional league, they are going to show a larger interest in rugby. When social incentives or cash incentives are on the line, people are predictable in the sense that when these types of things are on the line, they will jump at the opportunity to get in on it.