Hybrid All-Pay and Winner-Pay Contests

B-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
Year: 2020
Volume: 12
Issue: 4
Pages: 144-69

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

In many contests in economic and political life, both all-pay and winner-pay expenditures matter for winning. This paper studies such hybrid contests under symmetry and asymmetry. The symmetric model assumes very little structure but yields a simple closed-form solution. More contestants tend to lead to substitution toward winner-pay investments, and total expenditures are always lower than in the corresponding all-pay contest. With a biased decision process and two contestants, the favored contestant wins with a higher likelihood, chooses less winner-pay investments, and contributes more to total expenditures. An endogenous bias that maximizes total expenditures disfavors the high-valuation contestant but still makes her the more likely one to win.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejmic:v:12:y:2020:i:4:p:144-69
Journal Field
General
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-25