Theoretical Economics

In contests like rent-seeking or R&D, should the efforts of earlier movers be disclosed? The paper shows that such transparency enhances total effort, maximizing it with full transparency and minimizing it with none. https://t.co/Q7ylg7wlAw https://t.co/tNO8MHxaCo

Can a biased agent increase his rents by hiding feasible options from an unaware principal? This paper identifies circumstances under which the agent can and characterizes the disclosure that maximizes the agent's rent in a delegation setting. https://t.co/v66mMcRa2G https://t.co/V6AdfXOm0R

How to design an effort-maximizing mechanism when agents have both private information and convex effort costs, and the designer has a fixed prize budget? This paper shows that it is optimal to utilize a contest, and characterize the optimal contest. https://t.co/gAvwy4exad https://t.co/PYkp1chcuq

Instability is as likely to be good or bad–but can you use it to your advantage? https://t.co/5m3V8DLCm3 https://t.co/zODovgKZ6a

How to coordinate agents to adopt behaviors or products? The key is to incentivize those who are more popular than their friends, exploiting their social influence on others. The coordination cost is the lowest in a complete core-periphery network. https://t.co/nVdeVf6iOw https://t.co/0TEY3sa9ph

When wages reveal employer-worker match quality, a holdup problem may cause efficient equilibria to break down. Non-contingent wage posting coupled with counteroffers solve this holdup problem, but necessarily distort worker mobility. https://t.co/YmTtjOY7xI https://t.co/QcNS5Hc9Z6

Can suppressing bad news improve welfare? This paper shows that in cases where the bad news is inconclusive, censorship may benefit both the evaluator, who values information, and the censor. https://t.co/rIMeavZhXi https://t.co/f1F4Z1aSB7

What is the impact of stock market bubbles on competition and output? This paper shows that, when firms issue overvalued stocks, bubbles can reduce markups and have crowding-in effects on investment and output https://t.co/qvu8rCLrW6 https://t.co/f7qhgNc0TR

Persistence of past choices provides a channel for effective intertemporal incentives to overcome moral hazard in a setting where traditional channels fail. Applications include persistent product quality, policy targeting, and consumer ratings. https://t.co/2rInzW0Fqb https://t.co/uRiuQbdFXK

This paper investigates the economic implications of issuing digital currency and analyzing payment data to estimate consumer preferences. Multiple equilibria can exist and socially efficient uses of payment data may not occur. https://t.co/3ttGGM2I5D https://t.co/ylLlYgB7sh