In their recent book "Scorecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won," professor Tobias Moskowitz and veteran "Sports Illustrated" writer L. Jon Wertheim subject some of sports most cherished beliefs to the rigors of empirical data analysis, often with unexpected results. Drawing from Moskowitz's original research, as well as studies from fellow economists, the authors look at the influence home-field advantage has on the outcomes of games in all sports and why it exists; the surprising truth about the universally accepted axiom that defense wins championships; the subtle biases that umpires exhibit in calling balls and strikes in key situations; the unintended consequences of referees' tendencies in every sport to "swallow the whistle," and more.
Event Details
Testing Conventional Wisdom: The Case for More Statistics and Economic Theory in the Sports World and Implications for Financial Decision Making
In a similar approach to Moneyball and Freakonomics, Scorecasting applies economic theory and statistical analysis to non-financial problems to challenge notions that have been codified into conventional sports wisdom. Parallels to the finance and investing world are abundant. Join us for an engaging evening in which Professor Moskowitz gives us insights into his Scorecasting research and how it can be applied outside the world of sports.
Program
6:00 PM-6:30 PM: Networking and Beverages
6:30 PM-7:30 PM: Presentation and Discussion
7:30 PM-8:00 PM: Panelist/Audience Q&A
8:00 PM-9:00 PM: Networking and Discussion
Speaker Profiles
Tobias J. Moskowitz (Speaker)
Chicago Booth Fama Family Professor of Finance, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
http://www.chicagobooth.edu
Tobias J. Moskowitz, who joined the faculty in 1998, studies asset pricing, portfolio choice, risk sharing, market efficiency, real estate markets and finance, and empirical corporate finance. He has explored topics as diverse as momentum in stock returns, local bias in investment portfolio choice, and the social effects of bank mergers. He also looked at the return to private business ownership, the trading and financing of commercial real estate, and the political economy of financial regulation.
Moskowitz was recognized by the American Finance Association with its 2007 Fischer Black Prize, which honors the top finance scholar under the age of 40. The award cited his "ingenious and careful use of newly available data to address fundamental questions in finance."
His article, "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," written in 1999 with Joshua Coval, won him the 2000 Smith-Breeden Award for the best paper published in the Journal of Finance. More recently, he won the 2004 and 2005 Barclays Global Investors Michael Brennan Award for the best paper published in the Review of Financial Studies for his papers entitled, "Informal Financial Networks: Theory and Evidence," written in 2003 with Mark Garmaise and "Confronting Information Asymmetries: Evidence from Real Estate Markets," written in 2004 with Mark Garmaise. He also won the 2006 Brattle Prize for a distinguished paper published in the Journal of Finance, "Testing Agency Theory with Entrepreneur Effort and Wealth," written in 2005 with Annette Vissing-Jorgensen and Marianne Bitler.
Always trying to bring his professional experiences into the classroom, Moskowitz observes that the gap between theory and practice is not as wide as people think. "It's always interesting to try to understand why," he says, "and I get my students to think about these issues."
Moskowitz serves as a research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research and is a current editor of the Review of Financial Studies. His work has been cited in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, US News and World Report, Money magazine, and a 2005 speech by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
Moskowitz earned a bachelor's degree in industrial management and industrial engineering in 1993 from Purdue University. He went on to earn a master's degree in management from Purdue University the following year, before earning a PhD in finance from the University of California at Los Angeles in 1998.
His interests outside of the classroom include wine, most sports, and South Park.
Ari Kaplan (Speaker)
Manager of Statistical Analysis, Chicago Cubs
Ari Kaplan is the Manager of Statistical Analysis for the Chicago Cubs. He joined the Cubs in 2010 and has worked in the baseball industry for 23 seasons. He was named Crain's Chicago "40 Under 40" and the California Institute of Technology's "Alumni of the Decade" for his work with baseball analytics.
Questions
Vern Broders, '94
General Director of Marketing, Gentry Partners Ltd.
312.201.8622