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Two-person bargaining when the disagreement point is private information

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  • van Damme, Eric
  • Lang, Xu

Abstract

We consider two-person bargaining problems in which (only) the disagreement payoffs are private information and it is common knowledge that disagreement is inefficient. We show that, in the NTU-case, if the Pareto frontier is linear, the players' interim utilities of an ex post efficient mechanism cannot depend on the disagreement payoffs. If the frontier is non-linear, the result continues to hold when the conflict payoffs are independent, or one player has at most two types. In the TU-case, a similar independence result holds for ex post efficient mechanisms that are individually rational, provided the players' budgets satisfy a certain condition. We discuss implications of these results for axiomatic bargaining theory, surplus extraction by an informed principal and egalitarian mechanisms.

Suggested Citation

  • van Damme, Eric & Lang, Xu, 2025. "Two-person bargaining when the disagreement point is private information," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 387-400.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:150:y:2025:i:c:p:387-400
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2025.01.012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bargaining problem; Incomplete information; Axiomatic method; Efficiency; Disagreement;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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