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Humankapitalparadoxon auf dem deutschen Fernsehmarkt? Das Beispiel der Quiz-Show "Wer wird Millionär?"
Prinz, Joachim | Wiendl, Andreas
Journal of Contextual Economics – Schmollers Jahrbuch, Vol. 125 (2005), Iss. 3 : pp. 405–424
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Prinz, Joachim
Wiendl, Andreas
Abstract
Using data from the game show "Who wants to be a Millionaire", this study analyzes whether a higher level of education and hence the ability to make logical inferences plays an important role in climbing the show's prize money ladder. Testing differences in human capital investment gaps for a sample of almost 300 individuals, our findings indicate that individuals with a higher degree of accumulated human capital do not proceed further in the game than otherwise comparable individuals with a lesser degree of acquired human capital. We take several microeconomically based approaches to identify potential explanations for the results. Our central findings are that the selfselection of academics into the show, and their tendency to use such supplementary aids such as "jokers" less, are central in determining the outcome of the game.