We study the design of a sequence of two contests between a pair of identical risk averse employees whose effort choices are private information. It is optimal for the organization to `bias' the second contest in favor of the early winner - the reduction in second-period incentives is outweighed by the increase in first-period incentives. Thus, even though first-period success reflects only transitory shocks and not ability, it is efficient to structure the contests so these shocks have persistent effects on employees' careers.
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Paper provided by C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers in its series CEPR Discussion Papers with number
637.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D23 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Organizational Behavior; Transaction Costs; Property Rights D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
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Daniel Krähmer, 2005.
"Equilibrium Learning in Simple Contests,"
Discussion Papers
73, SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
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