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arxiv 2303.13409 v5 pith:YWVBCS3R submitted 2023-03-23 econ.TH

classification econ.TH
keywords principalagentsearchequilibriumfuturegoodsinformationprices
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abstract

We consider sequential search by an agent who cannot observe the quality of goods but can acquire information by buying signals from a profit-maximizing principal with limited commitment power. The principal can charge higher prices for more informative signals in any period, but high prices in the future discourage continued search by the agent, thereby reducing the principal's future profits. A unique stationary equilibrium outcome exists, and we show that the principal $(i)$ induces the socially efficient stopping rule, $(ii)$ extracts the full surplus, and $(iii)$ persuades the agent against settling for marginal goods, extending the duration of surplus extraction. However, introducing an additional, free source of information can lead to inefficiency in equilibrium.

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Cited by 2 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. Value of History in Social Learning: Applications to Markets for History

    econ.TH 2025-07 conditional novelty 7.0 of 10

    The value of history is maximized by a mix of fully informative and uninformative private signals, and a data seller's optimal information design is less informative than the social optimum.

  2. Information Aggregation and Social Networks: Responsiveness and Overturning

    econ.TH 2026-07 accept novelty 6.0 of 10

    No network is uniformly optimal for information aggregation: under some signal distributions the star network uniquely maximizes the final agent's payoff, and under others the complete network does.

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