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FACULTY FOCUS
You are testing a policy idea to combat doping in sports more
effectively than current measures; can you provide an overview of
the findings?
We are considering a compelling, but hitherto untested, antidoping policy idea: a system of conditional superannuation.
Athletes contribute earnings to a fund, held in escrow and
amortised post-retirement contingent on a clean record. It is
a novel, innovative idea to combat an otherwise intractable
problem with no other solutions.
Results from our pilot study, using behavioural experiments
with human subjects in the laboratory, demonstrate that
in an experimental policy simulation, such a conditional
superannuation policy is likely to result in a lower likelihood
of doping (compared with other standard punishments,
such as bans and fines), while not reducing the intensity
of competition.
I am working with Ralph Bayer and Qin Wu from the
University of Adelaide, and Aaron Smith from RMIT.
Why is this important to you?
The finance
of fun
Dr Liam Lenton is a macroeconomist applying the
principles of this otherwise potentially dry subject
to popular pursuits such as sport, music and film.
Interview by Patrick Avenell
T
his is Campus Review’s Profile series, in which we visit with
an academic or researcher to learn more about them and
their work.
CR: Where are you based and what do you do?
LL: La Trobe University (Department of Economics and Finance).
Senior lecturer in economics, with a current specialisation in
sports economics.
What is your educational background?
Bachelor of economics (Hons) from La Trobe University; master of
commerce from the University of Melbourne; and a PhD from La
Trobe University.
Why did you choose this path of study?
With some family background in commercial banking,
macroeconomics and finance initially seemed like something for
which I had an aptitude, even if I didn’t love it in the early years.
Later, when I discovered (post-PhD) that I could apply it (mainly
microeconomics) to professional sports, which I was interested
in generally, that invigorated my interest in the discipline, which
continues today.
As a sports fan, I’m frankly sick and tired of having to read
about doping scandals all the time instead of other, more
compelling, news stories arising from sports. While important to
me, this research is fundamentally much more important to the
professional sports industry itself. Administrators are desperately
seeking a solution to the incentive problems – which is what us
economists specialise in – that are causing many of their perennial
governance issues, with relation to cheating.
What’s next in your academic career?
I have recently led the submission of three major grant applications
on the project discussed above (to ARC, IOC and WADA). We are
awaiting the outcome of these. If we are successful in obtaining
national and international competitive funding, then this line of
research will dominate my agenda for the next three to five years,
and probably even beyond; given possible further applications to
match-fixing etc.
What book are you reading at the moment?
None. I don’t read many books, as I’m generally all read out after
academic papers and newspapers. The last one I recall reading
purposefully (a while back) was the 1976 academic classic Proofs
and Refutations by Imre Lakatos.
If not for sports, what other social phenomenon would you choose
to apply economics to?
Cultural goods, like film, television and music. On the latter, I do
have an ongoing side-project (with Jordi McKenzie from Macquarie
University) modelling data from over 20 years of the Triple J
Hottest 100 poll. We want to find: why exactly is it that some songs
that become popular upon release ultimately prove to become
regarded by fans as classics, while time shows others to fade and
be known merely as fads; and also why others still were not so
popular initially, but later evolve into classics. ■
If you would like to nominate an academic or researcher –
even yourself, no one will ever know! – to be profiled and
have their work featured, please email the news editor at
patrick.avenell@apned.com.au
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