The Hakone Ekiden, a university‐level long‐distance relay race, is the premier New Year's sporting event in Japan. It is held immediately prior to the university application period. Using panel data for 2001 to 2015, I examined how this race influences the number of applicants for university entrance examinations. The major finding is that applicants per intake for a particular department in a university was 0.7 points larger when that university participated in the current year's race than when it did not. However, the effect of participating in the previous year's race was not observed. Furthermore, the effect increased when the department of the university was more difficult to enter or was located in Tokyo. This reveals that prestigious universities participating in the race give students a casual motivation to take an entrance examination of the university without regard for their chances of passing.

中文翻译：

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大学体育是否在日本高等教育市场中充当广告？箱根站前长距离接力赛分析

箱根站传是大学级的长距离接力赛，是日本新年最重要的体育赛事。它在大学申请期之前举行。我使用2001年至2015年的面板数据，研究了该种族如何影响大学入学考试申请人数。主要发现是，大学参加本年度竞赛时，大学某个特定系的每名申请者的入学申请者比未参加者高0.7点。但是，没有观察到参加上一年比赛的效果。此外，当大学的部门更难以进入或位于东京时，效果会增强。