The distribution of talent across contests
Do the contests with the largest prizes attract the most able contestants? To what extent do contestants avoid competition? We show that the distribution of abilities is crucial in determining contest choice. Complete sorting exists only when the proportion of high-ability contestants is small. As this proportion increases, high-ability contestants shy away from competition and sorting decreases, making reverse sorting a possibility. We test our theoretical predictions with a large panel data set containing contest choice over 20 years. We use exogenous variation in the participation of highly able competitors to provide evidence for the relationship among prizes, competition and sorting. ? 2016 Royal Economic Society
1 March 2018
The Economic Journal 128(609) , pp.471-509, 2018
https://spire.sciencespo.fr/hdl:/2441/2ldopuhqfp8e7oriqpulud8k5o
This Journal article is published under the centre's Growth programme, Labour programme.