We study optimal contest design in situations where the designer can reward high performance agents with positive prizes and punish low performance agents with negative prizes. We link the optimal prize structure to the curvature of distribution of abilities in the population. In particular, we identify conditions under which, even if punishment is costly, punishing the bottom is more effective...

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Abstract Development of cycling infrastructure is becoming a global trend in urban policies. High congestion, mitigating smog and CO2 reduction have led to the re-birth as significant mode mobility. The article aims present response medium-sized Polish cities (ranging from 100.000 200.000 residents) these challenges, which are among most important problems solve within next decades. study analy...

Unlike most species, humans cooperate extensively with group members who are not closely related to them, a pattern sustained in part by punishing non-cooperators and rewarding cooperators. Because internally cooperative groups prevail over less cooperative rival groups, it is thought that violent intergroup conflict played a key role in the evolution of human cooperation. Consequently, it is p...

This paper proposes a dual-utility theory of parties in a legislature. In this theory a legislator has preferences over both actions and policy outcomes. Specifically, a legislator’s utility is determined by position taking—his own votes—and by partisan utility which depends on policy implemented by the legislature. Party leaders design mechanisms that make legislators better off by co-ordinati...

The Open Science (OS) movement has been seen as an important facilitator for public participation in science. This has been underpinned by the assumption that widespread and free access to research outputs leads to (i) better and more efficient science, (ii) economic growth, in particular for small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to capitalise on research findings and (iii) increased trans...

Cocaine addiction is a major public health problem that is particularly difficult to treat. Without medically proven pharmacological treatments, interventions to change the maladaptive behavior of addicted individuals mainly rely on psychosocial approaches. Here we report on impairments in cocaine-addicted patients to act purposefully toward a given goal and on the influence of extended trainin...

We study a Lazear-Rosen tournament in which players choose both work effort, which determines the mean of their output distribution, and the variance of output. The variance can be increased above its natural level but it is costly to do so. We show that tournaments involving more than two players generate incentives for risk-neutral players to pursue high-risk projects. However, the incorporat...