Four Essays in Economic Theory

Abstract

This thesis consists of four chapters. The first three chapters analyze contest models in continuous time. Differing from most of previous literature, we assume that each contestant observes his own progress and can adjust his strategy accordingly, but learns nothing about his competitors. <br /> Chapter 1 studies risk-taking behavior in contests, while Chapters 2 and 3 focus on the trade-off between a higher cost (of research) and a higher chance to win the contest. <br /> In Chapter 4, we extend the valuation equilibrium concept and apply the modified concept to simple extensive-form games.