Leading-effect vs. Risk-taking in Dynamic Tournaments: Evidence from a Real-life Randomized Experiment

Frank Mueller-Langer and Patrick Andreoli-Versbach ()

Discussion Papers in Economics from University of Munich, Department of Economics

Abstract: Two 'order effects' may emerge in dynamic tournaments with information feedback. First, participants adjust effort across stages, which could advantage the leading participant who faces a larger 'effective prize' after an initial victory (leading-effect). Second, participants lagging behind may increase risk at the final stage as they have 'nothing to lose' (risk-taking). We use a randomized natural experiment in professional two-game soccer tournaments where the treatment (order of a stage-specific advantage) and team characteristics, e.g. ability, are independent. We develop an identification strategy to test for leading-effects controlling for risk-taking. We find no evidence of leading-effects and negligible risk-taking effects.

Keywords: Tournaments; order effects; leading-effect; risk-taking; randomized natural experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 C93 D01 L83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp, nep-hrm and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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