Who benefits from drug-enhanced games? | Game Theory - Modern Ghana
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If doping in sports is a collective trap where every athlete cheats because they fear rivals will, Game Theory reveals why clean competition may be structurally impossible without outside enforcement.
Game TheoryPrisoner's DilemmaNash EquilibriumCollective Action Problem
Theory Briefing
- Doping scandals persist across elite sports because athletes face a classic prisoner's dilemma — stay clean and lose, or cheat and survive.
- When everyone suspects rivals are doping, the rational individual choice is to dope too, creating a race to the bottom that harms all players.
- Without credible enforcement and shared trust, drug-free competition cannot be a stable equilibrium — game theory explains why bans alone keep failing.