On the optimality of privacy in sequential contracting

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Calzolari, Giacomo; Pavan, Alessandro
• 署名单位: Northwestern University; University of Bologna
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2005.04.007
• 发表日期: 2006
• 页码: 168-204
• 关键词: contractual and informational externalities; mechanism design; optimal disclosure policies; sequential common agency games; exogenous and endogenous private information

摘要

This paper studies the exchange of information between two principals who contract sequentially with the same agent, as in the case of a buyer who purchases from multiple sellers. We show that when (a) the upstream principal is not personally interested in the downstream level of trade, (b) the agent's valuations are positively correlated, and (c) preferences in the downstream relationship are separable, then it is optimal for the upstream principal to offer the agent full privacy. On the contrary, when any of these conditions is violated, there exist preferences for which disclosure is strictly optimal, even if the downstream principal does not pay for the information. We also examine the effects of disclosure on welfare and show that it does not necessarily reduce the agent's surplus in the two relationships and in some cases may even yield a Pareto improvement. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.