Soccernomics

I should be working right now, but I've read enough horrid papers for the day and need a break before reading what I think will be a really good one. This post isn't related to shopping at all, but since I blog about financial matters on occasion, it's not entirely irrelevant...

I bet employers around the world must be breathing a sigh of relief now that the World Cup is coming to a close. Millions of dollars in lost productivity probably resulted from tons of slackers who watched games online or followed play-by-play "live blogging." People may think that the soccer-disinterested American workforce is immune, but at least one employer would beg to differ.

Soccer also has a ripple effect on the economy beyond labor terms. This seems like a whole lot of BS, but there are countries where "football" IS the economy, and troubles in the market might be viewed retrospectively as portents of defeat on the pitch. Even countries that are hardly soccer powerhouses could not escape serious socioeconomic costs incurred through World Cup Fever.