April 29, 2008 - 11:00pm
By Cara Sprunk
In a split second, a basketball referee has to make a call: to foul or not foul a player. In a recent study done by a former Cornell graduate student, it was found that these quick decisions are affected by more than just the game.
Joseph Price PhD ’07, who studied economics, worked with Prof. Justin Wolfers, Wharton, to examine nearly 13,000 National Basketball Association games between 1991 and 2002 to find evidence of an inherent racial bias in referee calls.
Price became interested in racial biases after reading a book on the topic as an undergraduate and from there went on to study the NBA.
