A Sports-Star Stimulus Package?

Taiwan’s major newspapers charge a higher advertising rate on days when Yankees right-hander and Taiwan native Chien-Ming Wang pitches, Sports Illustrated reports.

Computer maker Acer claims Wang’s name increased its product sales by 10 percent, and the Taiwanese business journal Money Weekly attributed a 25 percent rise in the Taiwan Stock Exchange to Wang’s strong performance last June and July.

Similarly, a paper by Alex Edmans, Diego Garcia, and Øyvind Norli found a significant market decline in numerous countries after their teams lost a soccer match.

The paper claims national soccer can influence the mood of an entire country as opposed to sports like American football which are “predominantly contested on a club rather than country level.”

So is the U.S. sports market too saturated for Wall Street to be affected by a single team or player? Or might Bernanke someday turn to baseball?

(Hat tip: John De Palma)