Overbidding and overspreading in rent-seeking experiments: Cost structure and prize allocation rules

Modak Chowdhury, Subhasish, Sheremeta, Roman M. and Turocy, Theodore ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2265-844X (2014) Overbidding and overspreading in rent-seeking experiments: Cost structure and prize allocation rules. Games and Economic Behavior, 87. pp. 224-238. ISSN 0899-8256

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Abstract

We study experimentally the effects of cost structure and prize allocation rules on the performance of rent-seeking contests. Most previous studies use a lottery prize rule and linear cost, and find both overbidding relative to the Nash equilibrium prediction and significant variation of efforts, which we term ‘overspreading.’ We investigate the effects of allocating the prize by a lottery versus sharing it proportionally, and of convex versus linear costs of effort, while holding fixed the Nash equilibrium prediction for effort. We find the share rule results in average effort closer to the Nash prediction, and lower variation of effort. Combining the share rule with a convex cost function further enhances these results. We can explain a significant amount of non-equilibrium behavior by features of the experimental design. These results contribute towards design guidelines for contests based on behavioral principles that take into account implementation features of a contest.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	rent-seeking,contest,contest design,experiments,quantal response,overbidding
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Economics
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Behavioural and Experimental Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Environment, Resources and Conflict Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Economic Theory Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Experimental Economics (former - to 2017) Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Behavioural Economics
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	15 May 2014 12:52
Last Modified:	13 Jun 2023 08:16
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/48462
DOI:	10.1016/j.geb.2014.05.004

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