Football and Family Violence

I’m a big football fan, so I have to admit I was a little sad to see this paper by economists from Berkeley and UC San Diego. The researchers looked at NFL games and found that, all else being equal, upset losses in NFL home games lead to an 8% increase in domestic violence by men against women. The fact that there is an effect doesn’t surprise me, but 8% seemed pretty high. Apparently it’s roughly equal to the increase in domestic violence reported on hot days. But it’s much less than the increase on holidays. New Year’s Eve and Memorial Day are the worst, with violence increasing about 30%.

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