HSE Researchers Take Part in ‘Economics of Football’ Conference

On June 23-24, the international conference ‘Economics of Football’ was held in Kazan. This event was organized by the Higher School of Economics (HSE), the New Economic School and Kazan Federal University. Angel Barajas, Dennis Coates, Elena Shakina, Petr Parshakov, Iuliia Naidenova and Anna Bykova, staff members of the International Laboratory of Intangible-driven Economy, participated in the conference. The researchers presented papers and worked as moderators, discussants and key speakers at various sessions and workshops.

The conference was timed in line with a major Russian football event – the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.  

Russian and international experts, as well as government and sport industry representatives, discussed the latest achievements in research on the economics of football in the historical building of Kazan Federal University. 

Furthermore, Arkady Dvorkovich, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation and Chair of the NES Board of Directors, delivered the event’s welcoming speech. In his speech, he noted that the Russian Government realizes the importance of the development of sports in the country.

Representatives of the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Spartak Football Club Nail Izmailov, as well the administration of the three universities - NES Rector Shlomo Weber, KFU Rector Ilshat Gafurov, and HSE Deputy Vice Rector Dmitry Dagaev, also spoke at the conference’s opening ceremony.

Professor Shlomo Weber moderated a session on financial regulations in football. Douglas Campbell, NES Professor, graduates of the HSE/NES Programme in Economics Sergey Steblev and Nikolay Avkhimovich, and Master’s student in economics Arseny Stolyarov presented their research projects

NES community members also took active part in the conference. For instance, Konstantin Sonin, NES graduate, Professor of the University of Chicago and HSE, participated in the programme committee and presented a report. Dmitry Dagaev, NES graduate, HSE Deputy Vice Rector and Associate Professor at the Department of Higher Mathematics, took part in the conference as a co-organizer and speaker.

A wide range of issues related to sports and its economics were covered at the sessions, including: the organization of major sports events in different countries and their impact on economy and society; fan preferences and ways to work with this; predicting the effectiveness of sports activities and events; the correlation between football team leadership and hard currencies; stock markets and football club sponsorship, etc.

Following positive comments from government representatives, sports clubs and researchers, for next year, NES has decided to organize an extended conference on the economics of football in light of the FIFA World Cup 2018. Moreover, the programme committee will soon be accepting submissions of reports and research projects for next year’s conference.

You can view the presentations of the HSE speakers at these following links:
A. Barajas and T. Gasparetto.pptx
A. Barajas, E. Shakina and T. Gasparetto.pdf
A. Barajas.pptx
A. Bykova and D. Coates.pptx
D. Coates, I. Naidenova and P. Parshakov.pdf
I. Naidenova and A. Chmykhov.pptx