Best-of-Three Contest Experiments: Strategic versus Psychological Momentum

Shakun Mago, Roman Sheremeta and Andrew Yates

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: We conduct an experimental analysis of a best-of-three contest. Intermediate prizes lead to higher efforts, while increasing the role of luck (as opposed to effort) leads to lower efforts. Both intermediate prizes and luck reduce the probability of contest ending in two rounds. The patterns of players’ efforts and the probability that a contest ends in two rounds are consistent with ‘strategic momentum’, i.e., momentum generated due to strategic incentives inherent in the contest. We do not find evidence for ‘psychological momentum’, i.e., momentum which emerges when winning affects players’ confidence. Similar to previous studies of contests, we find significantly higher efforts than predicted and strong heterogeneity in effort between subjects.

Keywords: best-of-three contest; experiments; strategic momentum; psychological momentum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C91 D72 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-12-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-evo and nep-exp
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Best-of-three contest experiments: Strategic versus psychological momentum (2013)
Working Paper: Best-of-Three Contest Experiments: Strategic versus Psychological Momentum (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pra:mprapa:43031

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