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(Robust) Information Acquisition Design

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Listed:
  • Eric Gao
  • Daniel Luo

Abstract

We study the design of information acquisition games-environments where a designer contracts their action on Sender's choice of experiment and the realized signals about some state. We develop a revelation-like principle for this setting and characterize the incentive properties of implementable allocations. We next turn to robust allocations-those that can be implemented regardless of the prior-and show that robustness is equivalent to experiment-neutrality of the mechanism. We conclude by considering two applications. First, for general good allocation problems, we show all efficient allocations are robust, even when agent preferences feature state-dependent outside options and allocation externalities. Second, we apply our model to school choice and uncover a novel informational justification for deferred acceptance when school preferences depend on students' unknown ability.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Gao & Daniel Luo, 2023. "(Robust) Information Acquisition Design," Papers 2312.02465, arXiv.org, revised Jun 2026.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2312.02465
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. Grossman, Sanford J, 1981. "The Informational Role of Warranties and Private Disclosure about Product Quality," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(3), pages 461-483, December.
    4. Bester, Helmut & Strausz, Roland, 2001. "Contracting with Imperfect Commitment and the Revelation Principle: The Single Agent Case," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(4), pages 1077-1098, July.
    5. 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.
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