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Allocation rules of indivisible prizes in team contests

Author

Listed:
  • Hideo Konishi

    (Boston College)

  • Nicolas Sahuguet

    (HEC Montreal)

  • Benoît S. Y. Crutzen

    (Erasmus School of Economics and Tinbergen Institute)

Abstract

We analyze contests in which teams compete to win indivisible homogeneous prizes. Teams are composed of members who may differ in their ability, and who exert effort to increase the success of their team. Each team member can obtain at most one prize as a reward. As effort is costly, teams use the allocation of prizes to give incentives and solve the free-riding problem. We develop a two-stage game. First, teams select a prize-allocation rule. Then, team members exert effort. Members take into account how their effort and the allocation rule influence the chance they receive a prize. We prove the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium. We characterize the optimal prize-assignment rule and individual and aggregate efforts. We then show that the optimal assignment rule is generally not monotonic.

Suggested Citation

  • Hideo Konishi & Nicolas Sahuguet & Benoît S. Y. Crutzen, 2024. "Allocation rules of indivisible prizes in team contests," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 78(1), pages 69-100, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:78:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1007_s00199-023-01534-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-023-01534-9
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contest; Team; Moral hazard;
    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

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