Cognitive Performance in the Home Office - Evidence from Professional Chess

Steffen Künn (), Christian Seel and Dainis Zegners
Additional contact information
Steffen Künn: Maastricht University
Dainis Zegners: Erasmus University Rotterdam

No 13491, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: During the recent COVID-19 pandemic, traditional (offline) chess tournaments were prohibited and instead held online. We exploit this as a unique setting to assess the impact of moving offline tasks online on the cognitive performance of individuals. We use the Artificial Intelligence embodied in a powerful chess engine to assess the quality of chess moves and associated errors. Using within-player comparisons, we find a statistically and economically significant decrease in performance when competing online compared to competing offline. Our results suggest that teleworking might have adverse effects on workers performing cognitive tasks.

Keywords: chess; teleworking; productivity; COVID-19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H12 L23 M11 M54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2020-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-big, nep-hea, nep-neu and nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Published - published in: Economic Journal, 2022, 132 (643), 1218 - 1232

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Working Paper: Cognitive Performance in the Home Office - Evidence from Professional Chess (2020)
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