Voir Dire

Possibly, but unlikely according to Dan Drezner. See the story here and audio commentary is also provided on the website. Can the Oakland A’s keep moneyball working? Here’s a snippet.

But as sabermetric methods have become more accepted in the boardrooms of baseball, Beane and other innovators have fewer inefficiencies to exploit. Since the publication of “Moneyball,” almost every team in the major leagues has incorporated sabremetric thinking into their organization.

The Boston Red Sox won two World Series in the past four years while employing Bill James, the godfather of the sabermetrics community. Other franchises around the league have also hired young sabermetrics devotees to run their front offices. The result: The popularization of sabermetrics has left Beane with less of an advantage — it’s harder to find diamonds in the rough when everyone else is mining the same territory. The A’s are not struggling because of “Moneyball”’s failure — they are struggling because of its success.

Could it be that the same would be true for academic institutions - as Moneyball principles become more pervasive can schools no longer exploit inefficiencies of other institutions (because they are harder to find)?