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Robust rankings of multi-dimensional performances: An application to Tour de France racing cyclists

Author

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  • Laurens Cherchye

  • Frederic Vermeulen

Abstract

There is a general interest in ranking performances (e.g., in sports or policy), which essentially implies aggregating several performance dimensions. The usual approach considers a 'cardinal' linear weighting of the different single-dimensional performance indicators. We present an alternative approach, which merely requires 'ordinal' information regarding the importance of the different performance dimensions. We argue that this approach is robust with respect to alternative specifications of the (possibly non-linear) underlying performance aggregation function. An application to Tour de France racing cyclists (in the period 1953-2004) illustrates the approach. We find that Eddy Merckx, Bernard Hinault and Lance Armstrong (robustly) dominate almost all other racing cyclists in our sample, while they do not dominate each other. A net-dominance metric ranks Bernard Hinault on the first place in our sample; Eddy Merckx and Lance Armstrong follow very closely ex-aequo on the second place.

Suggested Citation

  • Laurens Cherchye & Frederic Vermeulen, 2004. "Robust rankings of multi-dimensional performances: An application to Tour de France racing cyclists," Public Economics Working Paper Series wptourf, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Centrum voor Economische Studiën, Working Group Public Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:wpe:papers:wptourf
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    File URL: http://www.econ.kuleuven.ac.be/ew/academic/econover/Papers/wptourf.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marco Di Domizio & Mattia Palombini, 2011. "Competitività orizzontale e verticale nel ciclismo professionistico: alcune riflessioni sul circuito pro tour," Rivista di Diritto ed Economia dello Sport, Centro di diritto e business dello Sport, vol. 6(3), pages 35-54, Febbraio.
    2. Jan Ours & Frederic Vermeulen, 2007. "Ranking Dutch Economists," De Economist, Springer, vol. 155(4), pages 469-487, December.
    3. Marco Diana & Tingting Song & Knut Wittkowski, 2009. "Studying travel-related individual assessments and desires by combining hierarchically structured ordinal variables," Transportation, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 187-206, March.
    4. Geys, Benny & Moesen, Wim, 2008. "Measuring local government technical (in)efficiency: An application and comparison of FDH, DEA and econometric approaches," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Processes and Governance SP II 2008-21, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.

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