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Doping in sports – an economic perspective on actors and incentives

Research questions

While the use of performance-enhancing drugs is publicly disregarded as non-social behavior and non-compliance to competition standards, it is a rampant phenomenon in professional as well as amateur sports. This project aims at understanding this discrepancy by analyzing the decision to use performance-enhancing drugs from an economic perspective. To that end it includes different actors, e.g. team managers, coaches, and sports physicians, in the athletes’ decision to use forbidden drugs. Formulating the interactive decision situation between these actors reveals the underlying dependency and incentive structures. The project uses game- and contract-theoretic modeling techniques to assess current anti-doping measures.

Researchers