The Stairways to Heaven: A Model of Career Choice in Sports and Games, with an Application to Chess

Kenn Ariga (), Giorgio Brunello, Roki Iwahashi () and Lorenzo Rocco
Additional contact information
Kenn Ariga: Kyoto University
Roki Iwahashi: University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa

No 3327, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We model individual careers in sports and games from initial entry to eventual exit or success as a discrete-choice, finite-horizon optimization problem. We apply this model to the international game of chess and study cross-country differences in the relative success of players. While we find no evidence that the players in our sample from the ex-Warsaw Pact are more talented than European and American players, there is evidence that they face lower training costs.

Keywords: occupational choice; sports and games (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J44 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 61 pages
Date: 2008-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-spo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: The Stairways to Heaven: A Model of Career Choice in Sports and Games, with an Application to Chess (2008)
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