Does March Madness really hurt the economy?

Ryan Young Fellow, Competitive Enterprise Institute













My hunch is that there is a net loss, but it is a lot smaller than $1.8 billion. People probably do reduce their other derelictions of duty, but not enough to compensate for all the time they spend following games. Some people might even hustle to meet their deadlines and still make time to catch their alma mater’s game, leaving zero effect on productivity.

March Madness can also be great for office morale. And good morale often translates into to productivity gains.

Besides being good clean, mostly illegal fun, office bracket pools help employees get to know each other a little better, even if only to trade friendly insults. The best pools will give the last-place finisher his five dollars back, just to rub it in.

True, brackets come at a cost, and not just the $5 entry fee. They take time to fill out. That time could be spent working—or forwarding LOLcat pictures. No one knows the exact balance. But the worst possible impact is about .01 percent of GDP and more likely it’s far, far less. Let the people have their fun.

Ryan Young is the Warren T. Brookes Journalism Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute in Washington, D.C. He blogs at inertiawins.com.