JPSpitz Analytics
Economic and strategic analysis of aviation, sumo, and more — in English. More Japanese-language coverage is available on our main site.
Sumo's Modern Organizational Economics ― Twisted Incentives (Straight Out of Freakonomics), Foreign-Wrestler Quotas, and Unpaid Wrestlers
A look at modern sumo through the lens of organizational economics: the Freakonomics-famous Duggan & Levitt match-fixing study, quotas on foreign-born wrestlers, and a pay cliff where wrestlers below a certain rank earn nothing at all. This piece analyzes the economic incentives behind sumo's ranking and stable systems, grounded in academic research.
The History of Sumo, Told Through "Who Paid Whom" ― Japan's "National Sport" Is Named After a Building, and Match-Fixing Became an Economics Case Study
Sumo's "national sport" status isn't written into any Japanese law — it comes from the nickname of a single building built in 1909. This deep dive traces 1,300 years of sumo history, from Freakonomics-famous match-fixing research to academic studies abroad, through the economic lens of who paid for it and who profited.