Lecture on the first SFB/TR 15 meeting, Gummersbach, July, 18 - 20, 2004: The existing literature on the comparison of tournaments and piece rates as alternative incentive schemes has focused on the case of unlimited liability. However, in practice real workers' wealth is typically restricted....

We show that incompetitive careers based on individual performance the least productive individuals may have the highest probabilities to be promoted to top positions. These individuals have the lowest fall-back positions and, hence, the highest incentives to succeed in career contests. This...

Personalwirtschaftliche Problemstellungen werden häufig aus Sicht der Personalabteilung diskutiert. Im Vordergrund stehen dabei administrative sowie verfahrenstechnische Fragen. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschäftigt sich hingegen mit Fragen der Karrierepolitik als Teil der Unternehmenspolitik....

Several empirical studies have challenged tournament theory by pointing out that (1) there is considerable pay variation within hierarchy levels, (2) promotion premiums only in part explain hierarchical wage differences and (3) external recruitment is observable on nearly any hierarchy level. We...