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Private communication in competing mechanism games

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  • Attar, Andrea
  • Campioni, Eloisa
  • Piaser, Gwenaël

Abstract

We study games in which principals simultaneously post mechanisms in the presence of several agents. We evaluate the role of principals' communication in these settings. As in Myerson (1982), each principal may generate incomplete information among agents by sending them private signals. We show that this channel of communication, which has not been considered in standard approaches to competing mechanisms, has relevant strategic effects. Specifically, we construct an example of a complete information game in which (multiple) equilibria are sustained as in Yamashita (2010) and none of them survives in games in which all principals can send private signals to agents. The corresponding sets of equilibrium allocations are therefore disjoint. The role of private communication we document may hence call for extending the construction of Epstein and Peters (1999) to incorporate this additional element.

Suggested Citation

  • Attar, Andrea & Campioni, Eloisa & Piaser, Gwenaël, 2019. "Private communication in competing mechanism games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 258-283.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:183:y:2019:i:c:p:258-283
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2019.06.002
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Attar & Eloisa Campioni & Thomas Mariotti & Alessandro Pavan, 2021. "Keeping the Agents in the Dark: Private Disclosures in Competing Mechanisms," CEIS Research Paper 519, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 21 Oct 2021.
    2. Attar, Andrea & Campioni, Eloisa & Mariotti, Thomas & Piaser, Gwenaël, 2021. "Competing mechanisms and folk theorems: Two examples," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 79-93.
    3. Tommaso Proietti & Niels Haldrup & Oskar Knapik, 2017. "Spikes and memory in (Nord Pool) electricity price spot prices," CEIS Research Paper 422, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 18 Dec 2017.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competing mechanisms; Private communication;

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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