Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests
The heterogeneous abilities of the players in various competitive contexts often lead to undesirable outcomes such as low effort provision, lack of diversity, and inequality. A range of policies are implemented to mitigate such issues by enforcing competitive balance, i.e., leveling the playing fiel...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Working paper |
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University of Oxford
2020
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| _version_ | 1826298467551543296 |
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| author | Chowdhury, S Esteve-González, P Mukherjee, A |
| author_facet | Chowdhury, S Esteve-González, P Mukherjee, A |
| author_sort | Chowdhury, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | The heterogeneous abilities of the players in various competitive contexts often lead to undesirable outcomes such as low effort provision, lack of diversity, and inequality. A range of policies are implemented to mitigate such issues by enforcing competitive balance, i.e., leveling the playing field. While a number of such policies are aimed at increasing competition, affirmative action (AA) policies are historically practiced in an ethical response to historical discrimination against particular social groups among winners. This survey summarizes the rapidly growing literature of contest theory on AA and other policies that level the playing field. Using a general theoretical structure, we outline research on player and contest designer behavior under a multitude of policy mechanisms; and discuss the theoretical, experimental, and empirical results in relation to some of the common debates surrounding AA. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:47:17Z |
| format | Working paper |
| id | oxford-uuid:d3b8469f-b424-4660-a304-d97d1949f34a |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T04:47:17Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | University of Oxford |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:d3b8469f-b424-4660-a304-d97d1949f34a2022-03-27T08:13:23ZHeterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contestsWorking paperhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_8042uuid:d3b8469f-b424-4660-a304-d97d1949f34aBulk import via SwordSymplectic ElementsUniversity of Oxford2020Chowdhury, SEsteve-González, PMukherjee, AThe heterogeneous abilities of the players in various competitive contexts often lead to undesirable outcomes such as low effort provision, lack of diversity, and inequality. A range of policies are implemented to mitigate such issues by enforcing competitive balance, i.e., leveling the playing field. While a number of such policies are aimed at increasing competition, affirmative action (AA) policies are historically practiced in an ethical response to historical discrimination against particular social groups among winners. This survey summarizes the rapidly growing literature of contest theory on AA and other policies that level the playing field. Using a general theoretical structure, we outline research on player and contest designer behavior under a multitude of policy mechanisms; and discuss the theoretical, experimental, and empirical results in relation to some of the common debates surrounding AA. |
| spellingShingle | Chowdhury, S Esteve-González, P Mukherjee, A Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests |
| title | Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests |
| title_full | Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests |
| title_fullStr | Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests |
| title_short | Heterogeneity, leveling the playing field, and affirmative action in contests |
| title_sort | heterogeneity leveling the playing field and affirmative action in contests |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT chowdhurys heterogeneitylevelingtheplayingfieldandaffirmativeactionincontests AT estevegonzalezp heterogeneitylevelingtheplayingfieldandaffirmativeactionincontests AT mukherjeea heterogeneitylevelingtheplayingfieldandaffirmativeactionincontests |