The study shows that in collective contests, the smaller group is generally “aggressive,” adopting the norm sharing rule, which helps generate maximal intra-group competition.
Author
Dhritiman Gupta, Assistant Professor, Jindal School of Government & Public Policy, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
The researcher considers collective contests with group-specific minimum shares, which he calls group-specific “norms” of competitiveness. The minimum shares bound the incentive schemes available to a group.
The author fully characterizes how group sizes interact with such norms. The study shows that the smaller group is generally “aggressive,” adopting the norm sharing rule, which helps generate maximal intra-group competition.
On the other hand, the larger group is often “docile,” exceeding the norm sharing rule, which softens intra-group competition. The study also examines how group welfare relates to group sizes and the norm sharing rules.
The study identifies when the larger group fares worse in the contest, a phenomenon known as Group Size Paradox in the literature.
Published in: Review of Economic Design
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