Is Emulation Good for You? The Ups and Downs of Rivalry

Daniel Léonard and Ngo Long

CIRANO Working Papers from CIRANO

Abstract: We model the emulation between two athletes whose goals are fixed by their coaches. The coaches in turn engage in a game of goal setting. We analyze the equilibriums of that game. For some range of parameter values, there are only mixed equilibriums, where one coach randomizes his goals while the other coach uses a pure strategy. We show that it is in an athlete's interest to have a stronger rival. Both athletes can gain if there is not a big gap between their ability levels. A very big gap, however, result in poorer performance of both. Nous étudions un phénomène d'émulation entre deux athlètes pour qui des objectifs sont axés par leur entraîneur. Cela conduit à un jeu stratégique entre les entraîneurs qui aboutit à un équilibre de Nash. Pour certaines valeurs des paramètres l'un joue une stratégie mixte tandis que l'autre joue une stratégie pure. On montre qu'il est très utile pour une athlète de se confronter à une autre athlète plus forte. Cela améliore la performance des deux. Si l'écart est trop grand, les conséquences sont très mauvaises pour les deux. Le vieil adage « Qui se ressemble s'assemble » se trouve validé.

Keywords: Emulation; Goal Setting; Émulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D02 I20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-01-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: IS EMULATION GOOD FOR YOU? THE UPsAND DOWNsOF RIVALRY (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cir:cirwor:2008s-02

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