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Group Contests with Internal Conflict and Power Asymmetry

Author

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  • Jay Pil Choi

    (Department of Economics, Michigan State University)

  • Subhasish M. Chowdhury

    (School of Economics, University of East Anglia)

  • Jaesoo Kim

    (Department of Economics, IUPUI, Indianapolis)

Abstract

We investigate situations in which players make costly contributions as group members in a group conflict, and at the same time engage in contest with fellow group members to appropriate the possible reward. We introduce within group power asymmetry and complementarity in members' efforts and analyze how each group's internal conflict influences its chance of winning in the external conflict. We find that the stronger player's relative contribution to external conflict is higher in a group in which the power distribution is relatively more asymmetric. Furthermore, a more conflictive group may expend more effort in external conflict if the group exhibits enough degrees of complementarity in their group effort. The relative payoff of the stronger player also depends on the degree of complementarity in collective action and it is possible for the weaker player to earn a higher payoff.

Suggested Citation

  • Jay Pil Choi & Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Jaesoo Kim, 2011. "Group Contests with Internal Conflict and Power Asymmetry," University of East Anglia Applied and Financial Economics Working Paper Series 025, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    • Handle: RePEc:uea:aepppr:2011_25
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    Cited by:

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    3. Indraneel Dasgupta & Ranajoy Guha Neogi, 2018. "Between-group contests over group-specific public goods with within-group fragmentation," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 174(3), pages 315-334, March.
    4. Konishi, Hideo & Pan, Chen-Yu, 2021. "Endogenous alliances in survival contests," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 337-358.
    5. Barbieri, Stefano & Malueg, David A., 2016. "Private-information group contests: Best-shot competition," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 219-234.
    6. Bakshi, Dripto & Dasgupta, Indraneel, 2021. "Internal versus External Rent-Seeking with In-Group Inequality and Public Good Provision," IZA Discussion Papers 14871, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Stefano Barbieri, 2023. "Complementarity and information in collective action," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 75(1), pages 167-206, January.
    8. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Anwesha Mukherjee & Roman M. Sheremeta, 2021. "In-group versus Out-group Preferences in Intergroup Conflict: An Experiment," Working Papers 21-02, Chapman University, Economic Science Institute.
    9. Bruckner, Dominik & Sahm, Marco, 2023. "Party Politics: A Contest Perspective," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277714, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    10. Katsuya Kobayashi & Hideo Konishi, 2021. "Effort complementarity and sharing rules in group contests," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(2), pages 205-221, February.
    11. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Dongryul Lee & Iryna Topolyan, 2016. "The Max‐Min Group Contest: Weakest‐link (Group) All‐Pay Auction," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 83(1), pages 105-125, July.
    12. Brouwer, Thijs & Potters, Jan, 2019. "Friends for (almost) a day: Studying breakaways in cycling races," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 75(PB).
    13. Dripto Bakshi & Indraneel Dasgupta, 2021. "Internal vs. external rent-seeking with in-group inequality and public good provision," Discussion Papers 2021-06, University of Nottingham, CREDIT.
    14. Konrad, Kai A. & Morath, Florian, 2023. "How to preempt attacks in multi-front conflict with limited resources," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(1), pages 493-500.
    15. Hubert János Kiss & Alfonso Rosa-Garcia & Vita Zhukova, 2023. "Group contest in a coopetitive setup: experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 18(3), pages 463-490, July.
    16. Dasgupta, Indraneel & Pal, Sarmistha, 2021. "Touch thee not: Group conflict, caste power and untouchability in rural India," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 442-466.
    17. Xiaotian Yang, 2022. "Coopetition for innovation in R&D consortia: Moderating roles of size disparity and formal interaction," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 79-102, March.
    18. Mingye Ma & Francesco Trevisan, 2023. "An Experiment on Inequality within Groups in Contest," Working Papers 2023: 30, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    19. Send, Jonas, 2020. "Conflict between non-exclusive groups," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 177(C), pages 858-874.
    20. Subhasish M. Chowdhury & Iryna Topolyan, 2016. "Best-shot versus weakest-link in political lobbying: an application of group all-pay auction," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(4), pages 959-971, December.
    21. Konrad, Kai A., 2020. "Attacking and defending multiple valuable secrets in a big data world," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 280(3), pages 1122-1129.
    22. Sung-Hoon Park & Jason F. Shogren, 2021. "A Virtuous Circle of Governance Contests with Externalities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-12, July.
    23. Avidit Acharya & Takuo Sugaya & Eray Turkel, 2022. "Electoral Campaigns as Dynamic Contests," "Marco Fanno" Working Papers 0293, Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche "Marco Fanno".
    24. Bhan, Aditya & Kabiraj, Tarun, 2020. "Terrorist Inter-Group Cooperation and Terror Activity," MPRA Paper 98484, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contest; Collective decision; Group contest; Asymmetry; Internal conflict;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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