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Women and Competition in Elimination Tournaments

Author

Listed:
  • Thierry Lallemand

    (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

  • Robert Plasman

    (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

  • François Rycx

    (Université Libre de Bruxelles)

Abstract

This article examines how professional female tennis players react to (a) prize incentives and (b) heterogeneity in ex ante players' abilities. It is found that a larger prize spread encourages women to increase effort, even when controlling for many tournament and player characteristics. Further results indicate that uneven contests lead favorites to win more games and underdogs to be less performing. They also show that the performance differential among players increases with the ranking differential. These findings suggest that the outcome of a match is more linked to players' abilities than to players' incentives to adjust effort according to success chances.

Suggested Citation

  • Thierry Lallemand & Robert Plasman & François Rycx, 2008. "Women and Competition in Elimination Tournaments," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 9(1), pages 3-19, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:9:y:2008:i:1:p:3-19
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002506296552
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Brad Humphreys & Bernd Frick, 2019. "Prize Structure and Performance: Evidence from NASCAR," Economies, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-13, October.
    3. Alex Krumer & Mosi Rosenboim & Offer Moshe Shapir, 2016. "Gender, Competitiveness, and Physical Characteristics," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(3), pages 234-259, April.
    4. St-Pierre, Marc, 2016. "The role of inequality on effort in tournaments," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 38-52.
    5. Bernd Frick, 2011. "Gender Differences in Competitive Orientations: Empirical Evidence from Ultramarathon Running," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 12(3), pages 317-340, June.
    6. Tomi Ovaska & Albert J. Sumell, 2014. "Who Has The Advantage? An Economic Exploration of Winning in Men's Professional Tennis," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 59(1), pages 34-51, May.
    7. Necker, Sarah & Paetzel, Fabian, 2023. "The effect of losing and winning on cheating and effort in repeated competitions," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    8. Bernd Frick & Friedrich Scheel, 2013. "Gender differences in competitiveness: empirical evidence from 100m races," Chapters, in: Eva Marikova Leeds & Michael A. Leeds (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports, chapter 14, pages 293-318, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    9. Che, XiaoGang & Humphreys, Brad, 2012. "Earnings and Performance in Women's Professional Alpine Skiing," Working Papers 2012-22, University of Alberta, Department of Economics.
    10. Johannes Berger & Petra Nieken, 2016. "Heterogeneous Contestants and the Intensity of Tournaments," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(7), pages 631-660, October.
    11. Keith F. Gilsdorf & Vasant A. Sukhatme, 2013. "Gender differences in responses to incentives in sports: some new results from golf," Chapters, in: Eva Marikova Leeds & Michael A. Leeds (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports, chapter 5, pages 92-114, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    12. Zuzanna Kowalik & Piotr Lewandowski, 2021. "The gender gap in aversion to COVID-19 exposure: Evidence from professional tennis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-10, March.
    13. Jennifer Brown, 2011. "Quitters Never Win: The (Adverse) Incentive Effects of Competing with Superstars," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(5), pages 982-1013.
    14. Frick, Bernd, 2011. "Gender differences in competitiveness: Empirical evidence from professional distance running," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 389-398, June.
    15. Hendrik Sonnabend, 2020. "On discouraging environments in team contests: Evidence from top‐level beach volleyball," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(6), pages 986-997, September.
    16. Rey Hernández-Julián & Christina Peters, 2022. "Why Try? The Superstar Effect in Academic Performance," Eastern Economic Journal, Palgrave Macmillan;Eastern Economic Association, vol. 48(1), pages 147-165, January.
    17. XiaoGang Che & Brad R. Humphreys, 2013. "Earnings and performance in women’s skiing," Chapters, in: Eva Marikova Leeds & Michael A. Leeds (ed.), Handbook on the Economics of Women in Sports, chapter 6, pages 115-131, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Michael Cary & Heather Stephens, 2023. "Gendered Consequences of COVID-19 Among Professional Tennis Players," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 24(2), pages 241-266, February.
    19. Wozniak, David, 2012. "Gender differences in a market with relative performance feedback: Professional tennis players," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 158-171.

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