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Risk attitudes and heterogeneity in simultaneous and sequential contests

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  • Jindapon, Paan
  • Yang, Zhe

Abstract

We prove existence and uniqueness of equilibrium in rent-seeking contests in which players are heterogeneous in both risk preferences and production technology. Given identical linear production technology, if the number of risk-loving players is large enough, the aggregate investment in equilibrium will exceed the rent and all risk-neutral and risk-averse players will exit the contest. In simultaneous and sequential contests with two players, we can identify the favorite and underdog based on both players’ preference parameters. Our theoretical results suggest that subjects in some recent contest experiments behaved as if they were risk-loving.

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  • Jindapon, Paan & Yang, Zhe, 2017. "Risk attitudes and heterogeneity in simultaneous and sequential contests," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 69-84.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:138:y:2017:i:c:p:69-84
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2017.04.011
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Jindapon, Paan & Sujarittanonta, Pacharasut & Viriyavipart, Ajalavat, 2022. "Prize-linked savings games: Theory and experiment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 202-229.
    2. March, Christoph & Sahm, Marco, 2018. "Contests as selection mechanisms: The impact of risk aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 114-131.
    3. Fu, Qiang & Wang, Xiruo & Wu, Zenan, 2021. "Multi-prize contests with risk-averse players," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 513-535.
    4. Fu, Qiang & Lyu, Youji & Wu, Zenan & Zhang, Yuanjie, 2022. "Expectations-based loss aversion in contests," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 1-27.
    5. Alex Dickson & Ian A. MacKenzie & Petros G. Sekeris, 2016. "Sharing contests with general preferences," Discussion Papers Series 573, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    6. Dickson, Alex & MacKenzie, Ian A. & Sekeris, Petros G., 2018. "Rent-seeking incentives in share contests," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 53-62.
    7. Bettina Klose & Paul Schweinzer, 2022. "Auctioning risk: the all-pay auction under mean-variance preferences," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 73(4), pages 881-916, June.
    8. Liqun Liu & Nicolas Treich, 2021. "Optimality of winner-take-all contests: the role of attitudes toward risk," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 1-25, August.
    9. Anderson, Lisa R. & Freeborn, Beth A., 2020. "A Rent Seeking Experiment with Leakage from the Contest Success Function," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    10. Paan Jindapon & Zhe Yang, 2020. "Free riders and the optimal prize in public‐good funding lotteries," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 22(5), pages 1289-1312, September.
    11. Brookins, Philip & Jindapon, Paan, 2021. "Risk preference heterogeneity in group contests," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    12. Lin, Chen & Xiao, Hui & Peng, Rui & Xiang, Yisha, 2021. "Optimal defense-attack strategies between M defenders and N attackers: A method based on cumulative prospect theory," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk attitude; Simultaneous contest; Sequential contest; Rent dissipation;
    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
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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