Positive Assortative Matching: Evidence from Sports Data

It is difficult to establish empirically whether or not there is positive assortative matching in the labor market. We use longitudinal data from a 24-hour relay marathon in Belluno, Italy, in which participants are affiliated with teams, to study group dynamics in a manner that closely resembles workers' accessions to and separations from firms. In our dataset the productivity of the individual agents is measured and we exploit this by investigating the determinants of accessions, separations, and assortative matching. We find support for the existence of positive assortative matching; i.e., better runners moving to better teams in subsequent years.