's support. We set up a model of hierarchical contests and compare the implications of a centralized allocation process with a …

-contractible up-front investments to improve their bargaining position and gain advantage for possible future conflict. Bargaining is … efficient ex post, but we show that a player may prefer Conflict ex ante if there are sufficient asymmetries in strength. There … are two sources of this finding. First, up-front investments are more dissimilar between players under Conflict, and they …