Prescient (World Cup) economist?

economics ▪ miscellaneous

A prescient economist? There shouldn't be many in the world, though this one gets pretty close. Here is what Tim Harford wrote on June 26th on World Cup Games:

"Soccer being a famously low-scoring game, such matches often finish in a draw and must be decided by penalty shootouts—a competitive form at which my own team, England, has a particularly harrowing record. Perhaps England's players should study a little more economics."

and the following as well...:

"Professionals such as the French superstar Zinédine Zidane and Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon are apparently superb economists: Their strategies are absolutely unpredictable, and, as the theory demands, they are equally successful no matter what they do, indicating that they have found the perfect balance among the different options."

In light of the way England got booted out (and France's way to the final), this sounds a lot like foresight.

Just in case you too lazy to go to Harford's page, here is the paper that he cited the paper of Ignacio Palacios-Huerta. And, by the way, I was kidding about Harford being prescient.