We study a rank-order tournament in which employees acquire and use private information for an investment decision. In this environment, competition can turn employees into yes men who make investment decisions that excessively agree with preconceived notions. The specter of yes-man behavior may...

When firms are better informed than their consumers---for example, in many service industries firms know more than their customers about the benefits of different alternatives---competitive pressure may inhibit efficiency because it forces firms to cater excessively to consumers' opinions. We...