Score contribution per author:
α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count
In a spoils system, it is axiomatic that ‘to the winners go the spoils.’ This essay formalizes spoils systems as cooperative games, with winners given by a simple game structure, and represented by a fixed number of political appointments. We analyze the resulting spoils games by means of the non-transferable utility value, and we offer two practical applications of the results. Copyright Martinus Nijhoff Publishers 1987