infonet-economy

This paper explores the impact of rankings on individual performance in a setting of professional athletes competing for high stakes. We use data on World Cup alpine skiing for the period of 1992-2013 and exploit arguably random differences in race times to identify the causal effect of ranking positions. Our results document a significant decrease in subsequent performance among athletes who miss prestigious ranks. The analysis of the channels through which positions affect performance identifies an increasing bias in media attention towards successful athletes.