Barking up the wrong tree

While this study confirms that the system from "Moneyball" did in fact give the A's a decided edge, the market has now corrected itself to adjust:

Michael Lewis's book, Moneyball, is the story of an innovative manager who exploits an inefficiency in baseball's labor market over a prolonged period of time. We evaluate this claim by applying standard econometric procedures to data on player productivity and compensation from 1999 to 2004. These methods support Lewis's argument that the valuation of different skills was inefficient in the early part of this period, and that this was profitably exploited by managers with the ability to generate and interpret statistical knowledge. This knowledge became increasingly dispersed across baseball teams during this period. Consistent with Lewis's story and economic reasoning, the spread of this knowledge is associated with the market correcting the original mis-pricing.

Source: "An Economic Evaluation of the Moneyball Hypothesis" by Jahn Hakes, Raymond D. Sauer

Here's a New Republic article entitled "Against Moneyball" which is about... well, you can figure it out.

I recommend Michael Lewis' Moneyball as a great read. Game of Shadows is another enjoyable baseball book.

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How would Babe Ruth fare in baseball today?

Are baseball umpires racist?

What would happen if economists were NFL and MLB coaches?

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