Game Theory, The Cycling Mafia, and Lance Armstrong

Michael Shermer has completed the Race Across America several times and was one of the founders and early directors of the race. In addition, he founded the Skeptic Society and writes a column for Scientific American nearly every month. He is also an adjunct professor of Economics at Claremont University.

Shermer wrote an editorial today in the LA Times that uses concepts from game theory to explain why pro sports turn to doping to begin with. It's fairly intuitive and sounds a lot like the analysis I gave when Floyd Landis first came out with his revelation. While Shermer doesn't use the fraud triangle, he talks a lot about incentive and opportunity. Here is his reasoning: