Market Games with Asymmetric Information

9309854 Allen This research concerns the basic theoretical question of how traders can and should use information strategically. The economic motivation is derived from information sharing among firms in an oligopolistic industry or a research joint venture as well as from the fundamental problem of how groups of people choose policy rules, contracts, legal systems, or institutions. Information provides a natural restriction on the enforceability of agreements. The project begins by examining such interactions among individuals with different information and the possibilities for solutions which reflect, for instance, their average marginal contributions, the impossibility for subgroups to find better outcomes, or the lack of improvement arising from any unilateral change of action in equilibrium. An application to transfer pricing or cost sharing among units (for example, subsidiaries in a corporation) sharing a joint activity (i.e., a scientific laboratory or staff department services) is provided. ***