The Dark Side Of Competition

Here is a recent research paper that studies the longevity of composers in XIX century (http://ideas.repec.org/p/tcd/tcduee/tep1111.html). The results point at earlier mortality of famous composers involved in much competition during their life.

The authors claim:

Competition incorporates a large negative externality in terms of a decreased state of health and premature death.

In my opinion the only dark side of competition is probably the acknowledgement of self-inferiority when it comes to writing music as compared to the others.

For example Berlioz made four attempts at Prix de Rome and finally succeeded at the last attempt. The great thing about such competitions(especially in Berlioz's case) were to challenge conservatism and explore boundaries and I'm sure much of the composers' lives were invested into these competitions.

He died at age 66 though. Competitions are good. :) They're challenging!

Correlation, causation, etc.