Willingness to fight on: Environmental quality in dynamic contests

We show that the prevalence of prolonged tennis contests drops sharply when ambient environment deteriorates through heat or pollution. develop a multi-battle dynamic model to investigate how disutility from protracted competition shapes agents' willingness fight on. Our theory predicts poor amplifies momentum competitor's head start. primitives including preferences for environmental amenities can be inferred battle-to-battle transition probabilities. find and pollution affect incentives compete strategically. In contest between equally able rivals at median prize $15,100, value start is $130-370 higher in degraded compared with climate-controlled one.