Koning, Prof. Ruud

Ruud Koning is Professor by Special Appointment in Sports Economics via the W.J.H. Mulier Institute (a centre for socioscientific sports research).  He graduated ‘cum laude’ in Econometrics at the University of Groningen in 1988 and in 1995 he gained his PhD at the same university with a thesis entitled ‘Essays on applied microeconometrics’.  Since then, he worked as Academy Researcher and spent time at Brown University in the US.  He has been active in research at the interface of economics, statistics and sport for a considerable time now, focusing, for example, on measurement and determination of competitive balance in different sports, market mechanisms in professional football (for the Ministry of Economic Affairs), and the informational content of prices on betting markets. He has extensive experience with  prediction models for analysing large-scale football tournaments. 'It should always be open season on doping, but it’s inherent to the sport,' according to Koning in a blog on the FEBlogs. 'Availability creates demand, and sportspeople will do anything to gain an edge in competition.'

Video

• Hoe groot is de kans dat je de jackpot in de oudejaarstrekking wint? En andere vragen over loterijen beantwoord. [What are the chances of winning the jackpot in the New Year's Eve draw? And other lottery questions answered.
• What is the probability of you winning millions in the lottery? (in Dutch; Vara TV Kassa)
• Wat kost sport ons? [What does sport cost?]
• Sport en economie hebben alles met elkaar te maken [Sports and economics are closely related]

Previously in the news

• Sport Economics conference
• Koning on switching coaches during the season
• Investments for Dutch Olympics are no waste of money (interview on BNR-radio; in Dutch)
• Betting market best predictor of Football World Cup
• Don't expect to make a profit from the Olympic Games (Opinion)
• Sporteconomie: niet alleen gedegen, maar ook sexy (Broerstraat 5, June 2004, pp. 18-19)

Contact and further information

See profile page

Publications