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Unraveling of Information: Competition and Uncertainty

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Author Info
Andrew Stivers (Oregon State University)
Abstract

This paper examines incentives for information disclosure in a oligopolistic market when buyers are unsure of the existence of that information. Previous empirical and theoretical work has shown that mandatory disclosure laws can be binding when buyers do not know whether the information exists. This paper shows that the information unraveling result is strengthened by competition not only because a market with more firms is increasingly likely to have at least one firm with quality high enough to want to disclose it (thus starting the information unraveling result) but also because firms reveal information that makes themselves look bad if they can make their competitors look worse. This results in prisoner's dilemma style incentives to reveal that ensures full disclosure as the number of firms goes to infinity.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Berkeley Electronic Press in its journal Topics in Theoretical Economics.

Volume (Year): 4 (2004)
Issue (Month): 1 ()
Pages: 1151-1151
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Handle: RePEc:bep:thetop:v:4:y:2004:i:1:p:1151-1151

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Related research
Keywords: asymmetric information quality uncertainty information disclosure information revelation

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Grossman, Sanford J, 1981. "The Informational Role of Warranties and Private Disclosure about Product Quality," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 461-83, December.
  2. Caplin, Andrew & Nalebuff, Barry, 1991. "Aggregation and Social Choice: A Mean Voter Theorem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 59(1), pages 1-23, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Milgrom, Paul & Shannon, Chris, 1994. "Monotone Comparative Statics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(1), pages 157-80, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Paul R. Milgrom, 1981. "Good News and Bad News: Representation Theorems and Applications," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 380-391, Autumn. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Boyan Jovanovic, 1982. "Truthful Disclosure of Information," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(1), pages 36-44, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. V. Joseph Hotz & Mo Xiao, 2006. "Strategic Information Disclosure: The Case of Multi-Attribute Products with Heterogeneous Consumers," NBER Working Papers 11937, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Ting Liu & Monic Jiayin Sun, 2007. "Informal Payments in Developing Countries' Public Health Sectors¤," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2007-032, Boston University - Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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This page was last updated on 2008-11-13.

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