Snow Job

Economists Jonathan Zinman and Eric Zitzewitz, skiers who took offense to a fluffed-up claim, studied snow reports from 2004 to 2008 and compared them to area government weather stations. They found that ski resorts across the U.S. and Canada reported more fresh snow – 23 percent more, on average – on skier-coveted weekends than during the week. Resorts with more business to gain were the ones most likely to boast of deeper snowfalls, their study said.

Quoted here.  Paper here.

Do note that the snow angle might get the headlines but what is really going on is a test of deceptive advertising.  Interestingly, Zinman and Zitzewitz find that the deception declined dramatically after an iPhone app was introduced that crowd-sourced true snow levels.  

Hat tip to Daniel Lippman.

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