Informative Contests and the Efficient Selection of Agents

Abstract

This paper is based on the tournament model proposed by Araï, Billot & Lanfranchi 1995 [ABL]. Following ABL, a model of candidate selection is constructed in which there exists only limited information about their abilities. In particular, it is assumed that only the reputation earned by candidates in competition with one another is known. Competition is here formalized in terms of contests (or tournaments) which may involve individual and/or coalitions of individuals, and in which only winners are observed. The specific nature of ‘reputation’ is left unspecified, and is treated simply as an abstract measure which is increased monotonely for winners and left unaltered for all others. Here, our key assumption is that the winners’ gain increases with the reputations of the losers.