arbitrary constant

We can expect much more of this sort of thing over the next few weeks:

As the World Cup approaches, so does the recurring English nightmare of penalty shoot-outs. Fabio and the boys might do well to read a fantastic new study of penalty-taking carried out by some cognitive psychologists. The underlying aim of the study is work out whether or not the participants in a penalty  - penalty-taker and goalkeeper - behave rationally. The conclusion was - well, yes and no.

I'll do my best to keep track of all such studies and articles as they arise.

In the meantime, two predictions: 1) will produce some form of compendium of such posts on the economics / intellectualising of the penalty; and 2) none of it will help when England go crashing out of the tournament amidst high and unrealistic expectations.

Filed in General Interest, Sport and tagged economics, england, football, penalties, sport, worldcup2010