contest competitors were asked to pick the six prettiest faces

[keannu]

1. I don't understand what kind of contest it is, it's usually judges who pick pretty contestants. What do you think is the role of the competitors?
2. In "one should not pick the faces (that) one thinks are prettiest", "that" was omitted. Is there any rule to explain this type of omission or no rule?

st108)An economist once compared investing in stocks to the popular "beauty" contest of his time, in which contest competitors were asked to pick the six prettiest faces from a hundered photographs. The prize was awarded to the competitor whose choices came closest to the average preferences of all the competitors as a group. Of course, to win such a competition one should not pick the faces one thinks are prettiest....It would be better yet to pick the faces that one thinks others are most likely to think that others think are the prettiest. Or maybe one should even go a step or two further in this thinking.

 

[5jj]

1. I don't understand what kind of contest it is, it's usually judges who pick pretty contestants. What do you think is the role of the competitors?

I think it's what the writer says it is.

st108)An economist once compared investing in stocks to the popular "beauty" contest of his time, in which contest competitors were asked to pick the six prettiest faces from a hundred photographs. The prize was awarded to the competitor whose choices came closest to the average preferences of all the competitors as a group. Of course, to win such a competition one should not pick the faces one thinks are prettiest....It would be better yet to pick the faces that one thinks others are most likely to think that others think are the prettiest.