Using a large sample of individual-level records in Japan speedboat racing where men and women racers participate, we investigated how racers’ performance meets fans’ pre-race expectations. To control for endogeneity bias, we measured the order of racers’ attractiveness randomly determined in each race and then used this order as instrument for measuring racers’ popularity. The fixed-effects IV estimations revealed the following. (1) Racers who are more attractive than their competitors tend to be more popular even after controlling for the condition of the race, racer ability, and other characteristics. (2) More popular men show better performance in the race even if the reward does not vary according to popularity; such tendency is not observed for women. This study contributes a novel setting for determining the expectation-enhancing effects of physical attractiveness.

我们使用大量男女选手参加的日本快艇比赛中的个人水平记录样本，调查了选手的表现如何满足球迷的赛前期望。为了控制内生性偏差，我们测量了在每场比赛中随机确定的赛车手吸引力的顺序，然后使用这个顺序作为衡量赛车手受欢迎程度的工具。固定效应 IV 估计揭示了以下内容。(1) 比竞争对手更有吸引力的赛车手即使在控制了比赛条件、赛车手能力和其他特征后，也往往更受欢迎。(2) 更受欢迎的男性在比赛中表现更好，即使奖励不因受欢迎程度而异；女性没有观察到这种趋势。