when fighting is normal

Russ Roberts interviews political scientist Mike Munger on the topic of rules and institutions, using sports as an example. One of the most interesting things about sports is that there are informal rules governing fighting. A few key ideas:

• To decrease overall fighting, you allow a little bit. It acts as a deterrent.
• In sports with little protection, like hockey or baseball, you get ritualized fighting.
• In sports with ritualized fighting, you get fight specialists. You don’t want skilled players getting injured.
• In low fighting sports, like football, you need to slow things down with heavy referee intervention.
• Once you  protect athletes with equipment, fighting goes up because it is less damaging.
• If sports becomes lucrative, then norms change to reduce fighting. You don’t want your money generating stars missing the game.

A nice discussion of how norms, rules, and technology all affect each other.

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