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Rent-seeking with uncertain discriminatory power

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  • Heijnen, Pim
  • Schoonbeek, Lambert

Abstract

We consider a two-player Tullock rent-seeking contest with uncertain discriminatory power in the contest success function. We examine the cases where both players are either informed or uninformed about the size of the discriminatory power, as well as the case where only one player has private information about it. We show that in all three cases the contest has a unique (Bayesian) Nash equilibrium. In each case we characterize key properties of the equilibrium.

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  • Heijnen, Pim & Schoonbeek, Lambert, 2019. "Rent-seeking with uncertain discriminatory power," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 103-114.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:56:y:2019:i:c:p:103-114
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2018.07.007
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    Cited by:

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    2. Feng, Xin, 2020. "Information disclosure on the contest mechanism," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 148-156.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rent-seeking contest; Discriminatory power; Private information;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making

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