On the Role of Group Size in Tournaments: Theory and Evidence from Laboratory and Field Experiments
研究了锦标赛中参赛人数如何影响个人均衡努力，发现运气成分的分布是关键因素，并通过实验室和现场实验验证了理论预测。
We explore how individual equilibrium effort in tournaments varies with the number of contestants. The probability of winning a tournament depends on both effort and luck, and we show that the distribution of the luck component is critical in determining individual equilibrium effort. Our theory predicts that equilibrium effort is an increasing (decreasing) function of the number of contestants if there is considerable (little) mass on favorable draws. We test our theory using both laboratory and field experiments, and find substantial support for our theory in both settings. This paper was accepted by Teck Ho, behavioral economics.