Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/37199 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2010: Ökonomie der Familie - Session: Auctions with Asymmetric Information No. A13-V3
Publisher: 
Verein für Socialpolitik, Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
We study an all-pay contest with multiple identical prizes (lifeboat seats). Prizes are partitioned into subsets of prizes (lifeboats). Players play a two-stage game. First, each player chooses an element of the partition (a lifeboat). Then each player competes for a prize in the subset chosen (a seat). We characterize and compare the subgame perfect equilibria in which all players employ pure strategies or all players play identical mixed strategies in the first stage. We find that the partitioning of prizes allows for coordination failure among players when they play nondegenerate mixed strategies and this can shelter rents and reduce rent dissipation compared to some of the less efficient pure strategy equilibria.
Subjects: 
all-pay contest
multiple prizes
rent dissipation
lifeboat
JEL: 
D72
D74
D79
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

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