IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2505.18094.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Accuracy Is (Generically) Bad For Compliance

Author

Listed:
  • John W. Patty
  • Elizabeth Maggie Penn

Abstract

We demonstrate that the set of cost distributions under which the optimal strategy for maximizing compliance (or more generally, effort) in a binary choice environment is identical to the optimal strategy for maximizing the accuracy of the reward (minimizing Type-I and Type-II errors) is finitely shy (Anderson and Zame (2001) in the space of all smooth parameterized real-valued distributions possessing full support on the real line. In words, this implies that maximizing compliance and maximizing accuracy "almost always" call for different incentive schemes.

Suggested Citation

  • John W. Patty & Elizabeth Maggie Penn, 2025. "Accuracy Is (Generically) Bad For Compliance," Papers 2505.18094, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2505.18094
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2505.18094
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson Robert M. & Zame William R., 2001. "Genericity with Infinitely Many Parameters," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-64, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John W. Patty, 2005. "Generic Difference of Expected Vote Share and Probability of Victory Maximization in Simple Plurality Elections with Probabilistic Voters," Public Economics 0502006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Hans Haller & Roger Lagunoff, 2000. "Genericity and Markovian Behavior in Stochastic Games," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(5), pages 1231-1248, September.
    3. Riedel, Frank, 2005. "Generic determinacy of equilibria with local substitution," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(4-5), pages 603-616, August.
    4. Eddie Dekel & Yossi Feinberg, 2006. "Non-Bayesian Testing of a Stochastic Prediction," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 73(4), pages 893-906.
    5. Andrews, Donald W.K., 2017. "Examples of L2-complete and boundedly-complete distributions," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 199(2), pages 213-220.
    6. Loh, Isaac, 2023. "Nonparametric identification and estimation with discrete instruments and regressors," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 235(2), pages 1257-1279.
    7. Dirk Bergemann & Stephen Morris, 2012. "Robust Mechanism Design," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Robust Mechanism Design The Role of Private Information and Higher Order Beliefs, chapter 2, pages 49-96, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    8. Heifetz, Aviad & Shannon, Chris & Spiegel, Yossi, 2007. "What to maximize if you must," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 133(1), pages 31-57, March.
    9. Aviad Heifetz & Zvika Neeman, 2006. "On the Generic (Im)Possibility of Full Surplus Extraction in Mechanism Design," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(1), pages 213-233, January.
    10. Wojciech Olszewski & Alvaro Sandroni, 2006. "Strategic Manipulation of Empirical Tests," Discussion Papers 1425, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    11. Steven T. Berry & Philip A. Haile, 2018. "Identification of Nonparametric Simultaneous Equations Models With a Residual Index Structure," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(1), pages 289-315, January.
    12. Philippe Jehiel & Moritz Meyer-ter-Vehn & Benny Moldovanu & William R. Zame, 2006. "The Limits of ex post Implementation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 74(3), pages 585-610, May.
    13. Chris Shannon & William R. Zame, 2002. "Quadratic Concavity and Determinacy of Equilibrium," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 70(2), pages 631-662, March.
    14. Fang, Fang & Stinchcombe, Maxwell B. & Whinston, Andrew B., 2010. "Proper scoring rules with arbitrary value functions," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(6), pages 1200-1210, November.
    15. Stinchcombe, Maxwell B., 2011. "Balance and discontinuities in infinite games with type-dependent strategies," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 656-671, March.
    16. Lopomo, Giuseppe & Rigotti, Luca & Shannon, Chris, 2022. "Uncertainty and robustness of surplus extraction," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    17. Levy, Yehuda John & Veiga, Andre, 2020. "On the existence of positive equilibrium profits in competitive screening markets," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 140-168.
    18. Jerry R. Green & Daniel Hojman, 2015. "Monotonic Aggregation of Preferences and the Rationalization of Choice Functions," Working Papers wp397, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    19. Beggs, A.W., 2015. "Regularity and robustness in monotone Bayesian games," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 145-158.
    20. Aviad Heifetz & Chris Shannon & Yossi Spiegel, 2007. "The Dynamic Evolution of Preferences," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 32(2), pages 251-286, August.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2505.18094. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.