Following Fantasy Football’s Free-Market Model Provides Clues for U.S. Economic Growth
As fantasy football fans across the country take their positions in front of TVs each Sunday —checking Rotoworld—every fifteen minutes for player updates—let’s take a minute to consider how the U.S. economy would function if the rules were more like those of many fantasy football leagues.
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In some ways, fantasy football offers good examples of the free-market system: More times than not, the rules of the game don’t change and are the same for everyone, and competition leads to better teams and more exciting match-ups.
The Rules are the Rules:
“ Following Fantasy Football’s Free Market Model Provides Clues for U.S. Economic Growth ”
In most fantasy football leagues, the rules of the gameare determined before each season and do not change. This knowledge and certainty allows team owners to implement a strategy for the season that they believe will be most successful. For example, knowing how many points per touchdown are awarded or whether the league awards points for receptions is critical in selecting players for a winning team.
Imagine if there was a fantasy football league in which, mid-season, the commissioner decides to make touchdowns by quarterbacks worth 18 points instead of the original 6 because the commissioner has the best quarterback in the league. Subsequently, his team would have an advantage over teams that have less talented quarterbacks. Because the other teams chose their players based on rules at the start of the season, they would now be at a disadvantage because the rules changed to give one team a leg-up.
In the same way, changing rules and regulations for businesses affect their successes. As we noted in a recentEconomic Freedom Stories video, uncertainty about the rising cost of healthcare is affecting small business owner Jim Garland’s ability to hire for his expanding business. Garland’s jet cleaning company, Sharp Details, negotiates contracts with clients two to three years in advance. However, since Garland is unable to estimate the cost of health care per employee in 2014 when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will be in full effect, it is extremely difficult for Jim to determine how much each worker will end up of costing him to employ, and to make hiring decisions.
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