Not all group members are created equal: heterogeneous abilities in inter-group contests

Fallucchi, Francesco ORCID: 0000-0001-5502-4358, Fatas, Enrique, Koelle, Felix and Weisel, Ori . Not all group members are created equal: heterogeneous abilities in inter-group contests. Exp. Econ.. DORDRECHT: SPRINGER. ISSN 1573-6938

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DOI:10.1007/s10683-020-09677-5

Abstract

Competition between groups is ubiquitous in social and economic life, and typically occurs between groups that are not created equal. Here we experimentally investigate the implications of this general observation on the unfolding of symmetric and asymmetric competition between groups that are either homogeneous or heterogeneous in the ability of their members to contribute to the success of the group. Our main finding is that relative to the benchmark case in which two homogeneous compete against each other, heterogeneity within groups per se has no discernable effect on competition, while introducing heterogeneity between groups leads to a significant intensification of conflict as well as increased volatility, thereby reducing earnings of contest participants and increasing inequality. We further find that heterogeneous groups share the labor much more equally than predicted by theory, and that in asymmetric contests group members change the way in which they condition their efforts on those of their peers. Implications for contest designers are discussed.

Item Type:

Journal Article

Creators:

Creators	Email	ORCID	ORCID Put Code
Fallucchi, Francesco	UNSPECIFIED	orcid.org/0000-0001-5502-4358	UNSPECIFIED
Fatas, Enrique	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED
Koelle, Felix	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED
Weisel, Ori	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED	UNSPECIFIED