Reforming Soccer: Proposals From An Economist

I'm not the biggest fan of economists - as social scientists, they're among the more self-important species, meaning they seem to think that their theories can be applied to anything. Really, anything. The chutzpah is a bit much at times. At the same time, economists do like to think systematically about the world, and that's something I appreciate. So it pains me to admit that I found this article by distinguished behavioral economist Richard Thaler from the New York Times very intriguing.

The short piece is about ways of reforming soccer by making the the job of referees easier. The analogy Thaler uses as the basis of the piece is straightforward: referees are kind of like financial regulators (remember the financial crisis?). So what would you do to make the life of a regulator easier and improve the quality of the decisions the regulator makes?

It's certainly worth a read because it's clever and the proposals are worth talking about. I like the ones about adding a referee and redefining the offside rule. But judge for yourself!

(c) David G. Klein, New York Times