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Unifying Contests: from Noisy Ranking to Ratio-Form Contest Success Functions

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  • Fu, Qiang
  • Lu, Jingfeng

Abstract

This paper proposes a multi-winner noisy-ranking contest model. Contestants are ranked in a descending order by their perceived outputs, and rewarded by their ranks. A contestant's perceivable output increases with his/her autonomous effort, but is subject to random perturbation. We establish, under plausible conditions, the equivalence between our model and the family of (winner-take-all and multi-winner) lottery contests built upon ratio-form contest success functions. Our model thus provides a micro foundation for this family of often studied contests. In addition, our approach reveals a common thread that connects a broad class of seeming disparate competitive activities and unifies them in the nutshell of ratio-form success functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Fu, Qiang & Lu, Jingfeng, 2007. "Unifying Contests: from Noisy Ranking to Ratio-Form Contest Success Functions," MPRA Paper 6679, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:6679
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Paul Schweinzer & Ella Segev, 2012. "The optimal prize structure of symmetric Tullock contests," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 69-82, October.
    2. Giebe, Thomas, 2014. "Innovation contests with entry auction," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 165-176.
    3. Balart, Pau & Chowdhury, Subhasish M. & Troumpounis, Orestis, 2017. "Linking individual and collective contests through noise level and sharing rules," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 126-130.
    4. Yildirim, Mustafa, 2023. "When does division matter? Revisiting the optimal contest architecture," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    5. Pradeep Dubey & Siddhartha Sahi, 2016. "Eliciting performance: deterministic versus proportional prizes," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 45(1), pages 239-267, March.
    6. Fu, Qiang & Lu, Jingfeng, 2009. "The beauty of "bigness": On optimal design of multi-winner contests," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 146-161, May.
    7. Dmitry Ryvkin, 2013. "Heterogeneity of Players and Aggregate Effort in Contests," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(4), pages 728-743, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multi-Winner Contest; Contest Success Function; Noisy Ranking;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C7 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory

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