Research News

　
Using unique data from contests in a Japanese comedy TV show, an Osaka Metropolitan University economics researcher and a colleague estimate the impact of position order on performance evaluations.

By exploiting the fact that positions in the contest are randomly determined by lottery, they estimate the effect of position order and find that the first position is favorable in the contest.

One interpretation of these results is that the first performance is more likely to receive a default evaluation, which may be advantageous in less competitive contests where there are many winners relative to the number of participants.

The researchers present evidence that is consistent with this interpretation.

Paper information

Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Title: Is it advantageous to be first? Evidence from a TV comedy program
DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107009
Authors: Real Arai, Ryosuke Okazawa
Published:  22 April 2025
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107009

Contact

Ryosuke Okazawa
Graduate School of Economics
Email: okazawa[at]omu.ac.jp

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