The standard state-spaces of asymmetric information preclude non-trivial forms of unawareness (Modica and Rustichini, 1994, Dekel, Lipman and Rustichini, 1998). We introduce a generalized state-space model that allows for non-trivial unawareness among several individuals, and which satisfies strong properties of knowledge as well as all the desiderata on unawareness proposed this far in the lit...

We argue that there exists a problem of adverse selection in the provision of advertising which makes it impossible to establish direct markets for it. The media are regarded as intermediaries that can channel advertising and allocate it efficiently by screening consumers. This role of media may result in excessive quality and prices of media products. These distortions will be more severe if c...

In an example, monetary policy can determine the information revealed by prices, and thus it can be effective. Monetary policy that varies only with public information can guarantee the full revelation of information at equilibrium, which is optimal. Full indexation need not attain full revelation and, as a consequence, need not implement an optimal allocation. Journal of Economic Literature Cl...

In this paper I prove a Folk theorem with T -private communication equilibria with an imperfect monitoring structure that may be public, private, and conditionally dependent or independent. I show that an efficient outcome is approachable as players become patient if every disobedience from efficiency is detectable by some player and some not necessarily efficient action profile. I also show th...

Dynamic Contracts and Learning by Doing This paper studies the design of optimal contracts in dynamic environments where agents learn by doing. We derive a condition under which contracts are fully incentive compatible. A closed-form solution is obtained when agents have CARA utility. It shows that human capital accumulation strengthens the power of incentives and allows the principal to provid...

We investigate a competitive labor market with team production. Workers differ in their motivation to exert team effort, and types are private information. We show that there can exist a separating equilibrium in which workers self-select into different firms and firms employing cooperative workers make strictly positive profits. Profit differences across firms persist because cooperation stric...

This paper provides a general overview of the literature on the core of an exchange economy with asymmetric information. Incentive compatibility is emphasized in studying core concepts at the ex ante and interim stage. The analysis includes issues of non-emptiness of the core as well as core convergence to price equilibrium allocations. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL clas...

We propose numerical algorithms for solving first price auction problems where bidders draw independent valuations from heterogeneous distributions. The heterogeneity analyzed in this work is what might naturally emerge when subsets of distributionally homogeneous bidders collude. Bid functions and expected revenues are calculated for two special cases. Extensions to more general asymmetric fir...

We provide several generalizations of Mailath’s (1987) result that in games of asymmetric information with a continuum of types incentive compatibility plus separation implies differentiability of the informed agent’s strategy. The new results extend the theory to classic models in finance such as Leland and Pyle (1977), Glosten (1989), and DeMarzo and Duffie (1999), that were not previously co...

Theoretically and experimentally, we generalize the analysis of acquiring a company (Samuelson and Bazerman 1985) by allowing for competition of both, buyers and sellers. Näıvety of both is related to the idea that higher prices exclude worse qualities. While competition of näıve buyers increases prices, competition of näıve sellers promotes efficiency enhancing trade. Our predictions are teste...