When to Release Feedback in a Dynamic Tournament

Abstract

We study dynamic tournaments in which time is modeled explicitly, as opposed to with the abstract notion of “periods.” By doing so, we characterize the effects of the ex ante designated timing of an interim progress report. Whether or not a policy of reporting increases total expected effort does not depend on the release time of the report; however, the magnitude of the effect does. We demonstrate that total expected effort is single peaked or single troughed in the report’s release time depending on parameters, with the peak/tough located at a time strictly more than halfway through the tournament. However, a policy of releasing information always harms the expected utility of the tournament’s participants. Implications for tournament design are discussed.