Using Soccer Games as an Instrument to Forecast the Spread of COVID-19 in Europe

Juan-Pedro Gómez and Maxim Mironov

Finance Research Letters, 2021, vol. 43, issue C

Abstract: We provide strong empirical support for the contribution of soccer games held in Europe to the spread of the COVID-19 virus in March 2020. We analyze more than 1,000 games across 194 regions from 10 European countries. Daily cases of COVID-19 grow significantly faster in regions where at least one soccer game took place two weeks earlier, consistent with the existence of an incubation period. These results weaken as we include stadiums with smaller capacity. We discuss the relevance of these variables as instruments for the identification of the causal effect of COVID-19 on firms, the economy, and financial markets.

Keywords: COVID-19; Soccer; Super-spreaders; Instrumental variables; Identification strategy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C36 G01 I18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:finlet:v:43:y:2021:i:c:s1544612321000738

DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2021.101992

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