Abstract for: A System Dynamics Examination of the Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs

Athletes face tremendous pressure to perform, and, when conventional means prove insufficient for performance improvement, some turn to performance enhancing drugs (PED’s). The present paper uses system dynamics to examine one example: the use of anabolic androgenic steroids in Major League Baseball (MLB), which operates in the United States and Canada. The authors provide an explanation of a detailed causal loop diagram of the problem, along with a stock and flow model, based on the Bass Diffusion Model, of part of the problem. They provide a few policy recommendations based on model runs.