Information Intermediaries in Monopolistic Screening
Panagiotis Kyriazis, Edmund Lou
详情
We investigate the relationship between product offerings, information dissemination, and consumer decision-making in a monopolistic screening environment in which consumers lack information about their valuation of quality-differentiated products. An intermediary, who is driven by the objective of maximizing consumer surplus but is also biased towards high-quality products, provides recommendations after the monopolist announces the menu of product choices. We characterize the monopolist's profit-maximizing finite-item menu. Our results show that as intermediaries place greater emphasis on consumer surplus over product quality, sellers are prompted to strategically expand their product range. Intriguingly, this augmented product variety decreases economic efficiency compared to scenarios where direct seller-to-consumer information provision is the norm. The role of information intermediaries proves pivotal in shaping consumer welfare, market profitability, and overarching economic efficiency. Our insights underscore the complexities introduced by these intermediaries that policymakers and market designers must consider when designing policies centered on consumer learning and market information transparency.
Optimal Market Composition In Monopoly Screening
Panagiotis Kyriazis
详情
Economic institutions often influence market outcomes not by directly controlling sellers' menus, but by shaping the market composition sellers face. We study this problem in the canonical monopoly screening model. An upstream actor chooses the distribution of buyer valuations, after which a monopolist offers the optimal quality-price menu. We characterize the optimal market composition and the efficient frontier of consumer surplus and profit. If the upstream actor places at least as much weight on profits as on consumer surplus, the optimal market collapses to the top type. If the weight on consumer surplus is larger than the weight on profits, the optimal market exhibits no exclusion, no interior bunching, and a positive mass at the highest valuation. Under a mild curvature condition, the optimum is unique. As the weight on consumer surplus rises, the optimal market becomes more heterogeneous and less concentrated at the top: the interior expands while the top segment shrinks. Consumer surplus rises, profit falls, and total surplus declines.
Employment, Input-Output Linkages, and the Energy Transition in California's Top Oil-Producing Region
Rich Ryan, Nyakundi Michieka
Comments 46 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables
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The US economy is transitioning away from fossil fuels toward sources of green energy. California policymakers have adopted the goal of carbon neutrality by 2045 or earlier. Within California, Kern County accounts for over 70 percent of oil produced within the state. To understand how the transition may affect opportunities in Kern, we propose a structural vector autoregressive model that jointly explains the global crude-oil market and the evolution of employment within Kern. We use monthly data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. While industries directly involved in the extraction of fossil fuels employ less than 2 percent of workers, the oil market is responsible for 11 percent of the variation in employment growth. Employment would be 6.4 percent lower currently absent the influence of the global oil market. We explain these large effects using a theoretical framework of production that relies on a network of input--output linkages. The findings may be useful to policymakers designing place-based policy aimed at helping vulnerable oil-dependent regions.
The Geoeconomics of Venture Capital An Economic Complexity Approach to Emerging Technological Sovereignty
Benjamin Leroy, Davi Marim, El Ghali Benjelloun, Arthur Rozan Debeaurain, Jean-Michel Dalle
Comments 12 pages, 2 figures
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We explore a quantitative approach to emerging technological sovereignty and geoeconomic power by assessing the relative positioning of countries with economic complexity methods applied to the structure of national venture-capital (VC) portfolios and their associated Revealed Venture Advantage (RVA) metrics. Using Crunchbase firm- and deal-level data, we map venture-backed startups to 18 emerging technology domains via a probabilistic multi-label large-language-model classifier, and construct an RVA-based country-technology specialization matrix for the 17 countries with the highest aggregate VC funding. From this matrix, we derive two eigenvector-based measures: a Geoeconomic Complexity Index (GCI) that ranks countries by the composition of their venture specializations, and an Emerging Technology Geoeconomic Complexity Index (ETGCI) that ranks domains by the extent to which specialization is concentrated among high-GCI countries. Empirically, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity Tools, and Medtech exhibit the highest ETGCI values, reflecting concentration of specialization in a small set of leading countries. The United States and Israel consistently occupy a marked "high-diversity/low-ubiquity" position and lead the GCI ranking, followed by China, France, Japan, and Germany; both country and domain rankings are stable from 2021-2024. Finally, relatedness-based simulations identify, when it exists, for each country the Simplest Single Sovereignty Enhancing Technology (SSSET), i.e., the most feasible single new technological direction associated with the largest expected improvement in relative geoeconomic positioning.
Is Bitcoin A Hedge Against Central Banking? Evidence from AI-Driven Monetary Policy Expectations
Maxime L. D. Nicolas, François Sicard, Marion Laboure, Zixin Sun, Anahí Rodríguez-Martínez
详情
This study investigates the transmission of monetary policy narratives to Bitcoin prices, distinguishing the impact of ex-ante expectations from ex-post interest rate implementation. We introduce a high-frequency Monetary Policy Expectations (MPE) index, using a Large Language Model (LLM)-based classification of 118,000+ market messages to achieve a precise hawkish/dovish decomposition. Results from a framework combining Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) indicate that Bitcoin functions as a sensitive barometer of central bank signaling; specifically, hawkish narratives consistently trigger negative price responses independently of actual Federal Funds Rate adjustments. We demonstrate that the MPE index Granger-causes Bitcoin returns at short-to-medium horizons, establishing linear predictive causality, while the LSTM-SHAP framework reveals pronounced non-linear, macroeconomic regime-dependent interactions. These findings highlight Bitcoin's structural sensitivity to global monetary discourse, establishing LLM-derived sentiment as a potent leading macroeconomic indicator for the digital asset landscape.
Buying Data of Unknown Quality: Fisher Information Procurement Auctions
Yuchen Hu, Martin J. Wainwright, Stephen Bates
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We study statistical parameter estimation in the setting of data markets. A buyer seeks to estimate a parameter based on samples that can be purchased from competing providers that differ in their data quality and provision costs. When quality is known ex ante, we define a cost-per-information score that summarizes each provider's provision cost per unit of information about the buyer's estimation objective. We describe second-score procurement mechanism that ranks providers by this score, and endogenously chooses both a provider and a sample size while making truthful cost reports optimal. We then turn to the more realistic setting where data quality is private, and can only be indirectly observed via the delivered data. In this setting, we propose a simple mechanism that augments the second-score rule with a lenient ex post statistical test of the reported quality. We prove that under mild conditions, there exists an equilibrium in which sellers report costs truthfully and report quality up to deviations that vanish as the procured sample size grows. Our analysis highlights how the choice of verification test and the buyer's accuracy-cost tradeoff jointly shape participation and misreporting incentives in data markets.
Identification of Latent Group Effects under Conditional Calibration
Marcell T. Kurbucz
Comments 31 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables
详情
We study identification of a structural group effect when the group indicator $G\in\{0,1\}$ is unobserved but the analyst observes a calibrated probability score $p\in[0,1]$ satisfying $\mathbb{E}[G|p,X]=p$. Under a constant-coefficient structural mean model, the latent-group coefficient $τ$ is point-identified from the joint law of observables $(Y,X,p)$ by a simple ratio of weighted moments: the covariance of the signed score $2p-1$ with the covariate-partialled outcome, divided by twice the residual variance of the score after conditioning on covariates. Identification fails if and only if the score is a deterministic function of $X$; we establish this by constructing an explicit continuum of observationally equivalent models indexed by arbitrary values of $τ$. The identified coefficient differs from the marginal latent mean gap by a compositional term that is unidentified without further assumptions; we give a necessary and sufficient condition for the two to coincide. The oracle estimator is $\sqrt{n}$-consistent and asymptotically normal with a closed-form sandwich variance. Under calibration error bounded uniformly by $δ$, the bias is bounded by $|τ|\,\mathbb{E}[|2p-1|]\,δ\,(2V^*)^{-1}$, a bound that is sharp over all calibration error functions of that magnitude. Hard-threshold classification at $p=1/2$ attenuates the estimated gap by a factor strictly less than one. Monte Carlo experiments confirm the asymptotic theory, trace the divergence of RMSE as $V^*\to 0$, illustrate the attenuation bias of hard-threshold classification, and verify identification of the variance-weighted estimand under heterogeneous effects.
On the stability of the steady-state of a general model of endogenous growth with two $CES$ production functions
Constantin Chilarescu
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The main aim of this paper is to study the steady-state properties of a general Bond-type endogenous growth model, considering that both sectors are modeled by two distinct $CES$ production functions. We prove here that in this case, we cannot claim the saddle-path stability.
Reputational Spillovers
Aditya Kuvalekar, Anna Sanktjohanser
详情
We analyze a reputational bargaining game in which a central player negotiates simultaneously with two peripheral players. Each player is either rational or a commitment type who never concedes and insists on a fixed share, and concessions are publicly observed. The central player's type is global, so actions in one dispute update beliefs in the other and generate reputational spillovers. The game admits a unique equilibrium, enabling a sharp comparison with the bilateral benchmark of Abreu and Gul (2000). Spillovers are payoff-relevant if and only if a peripheral is uniquely the most reputable player initially. In that case, spillovers overturn the bilateral prediction that toughness pays: the central player is never strictly better off and can be strictly worse off; the strongest peripheral loses; and the weakest peripheral can benefit, especially when the center's higher-stakes dispute is with the other peripheral.
Extrapolating Volition with Recursive Information Markets
Abhimanyu Pallavi Sudhir, Long Tran-Thanh
Comments Accepted to Games, Agents and Incentives Workshop at AAMAS-2026
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One of the impediments to the efficiency of information markets is the inherent information asymmetry present in them, exacerbated by the "buyer's inspection paradox" (the buyer cannot mitigate the asymmetry by "inspecting" the information, because in doing so the buyer obtains the information without paying for it). Previous work has suggested that using Large Language Model (LLM) buyers to inspect and purchase information could overcome this information asymmetry, as an LLM buyer can simply "forget" the information it inspects. In this work, we analyze this mechanism formally through a "value-of-information" paradigm, i.e. whether it incentivizes information to be priced and provided in accordance with its "true value". We focus in particular on our new recursive version of the mechanism, which we believe has a range of applications including in AI alignment research, where it is related to Extrapolated Volition and Scalable Oversight.
Conformal Inference for Experimental Attrition in Social Science Research
Xiangyu Song
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Attrition in survey and field experiments presents a challenge for social science research. Common approaches to deal with this problem -- such as complete case analysis, multiple imputation, and weighting methods -- rely on strong assumptions that may not hold in practice. This paper introduces a new method that combines recent advances in statistical inference with established tools for handling missing data. The approach produces prediction intervals for treatment effects that are both robust and precise. Evidence from simulation studies shows that the method achieves better coverage and produces narrower intervals than common alternatives. The reanalysis of two recently published experiment studies illustrates how this framework allows researchers to compare treatment effects across participants who remain in the study, those who drop out, and the full sample. Taken together, these results highlight how the proposed approach provides a stronger foundation for causal inference in the presence of attrition.
The Cascade Identity: 2SLS as a Policy Parameter in Capacity-Constrained Settings
Niklas Bengtsson, Per Engström
Comments 67 pages, 3 figures, 10 tables
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Governments routinely adjust capacity in rationed programs such as university fields, medical training and public housing, where admitting one individual displaces others and triggers chains of reallocation. We show that in such settings, the standard multi-treatment two-stage least squares (2SLS) coefficient identifies exactly the total societal effect of a marginal expansion, including all downstream reallocations. The result is an algebraic identity: under instrument relevance and a single alignment condition, satisfied in centralized admissions systems, the 2SLS coefficient equals the general-equilibrium shadow value of relaxing a capacity constraint, while the single-instrument Wald ratio captures only the direct effect. Their difference recovers the full equilibrium adjustment without additional structure. Monotonicity is not required. The identity extends beyond queue-based allocation to any fixed-supply setting, including competitive markets with price instruments. We apply the framework to two policy questions in Swedish university admissions, where marginal students are allocated across fields through a centralized lottery mechanism. First, revisiting the debate on whether economics and business education erodes prosocial values, we find that the direct effect of expanding business on charitable giving is precisely zero, but expanding the less competitive fields that business students are displaced from has large prosocial effects. Second, analyzing gender-targeted STEM policies, we find that admitting four women to competitive STEM generates one additional male STEM degree through downstream vacancies. Both are general-equilibrium effects invisible to single-instrument methods.
Evaluating Gender Wage Inequality in Academia using Causal Inference Methods for Observational Data
Zihan Zhang, Jan Hannig
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Observational studies often present challenges for causal inference due to confounding and heterogeneity. In this paper, we illustrate how modern causal inference methods can be applied to large-scale academic salary data. Using records from 12,039 tenure-track faculty in the University of North Carolina system, linked with bibliometric indicators and institutional classifications, we estimate the causal effect of gender on faculty salaries. Our analysis combines propensity score matching with causal forests to adjust for rank, discipline, research productivity, and career experience. Results indicate that female faculty earn approximately 6% less than comparable male colleagues, with variation in the gap across career stages and levels of research productivity. This case study demonstrates how causal inference methods for observational data can provide insight into structural disparities in complex social systems.
Large SVARs
Jonas E. Arias, Juan F. Rubio-Ramírez, Daniel Rudolf, Minchul Shin
Comments 58 pages, 14 figures
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We develop a new algorithm for inference in structural vector autoregressions (SVARs) identified with sign restrictions that can accommodate big data and modern identification schemes. The key innovation of our approach is to move beyond the traditional accept-reject framework commonly used in sign-identified SVARs. We show that an elliptical slice within Gibbs sampler can deliver dramatic gains in computational speed and render previously infeasible applications tractable. We also prove that the algorithm is well-defined, in the sense that its stationary distribution coincides with the posterior distribution of interest. To illustrate the approach in the context of sign-identified SVARs, we use a tractable example. We further assess the performance of our algorithm through two applications: a well-known small-SVAR model of the oil market featuring a tight identified set, and a large SVAR model with more than ten shocks and 100 sign restrictions.
The Economic Impact of Low- and High-Frequency Temperature Changes
Nikolay Gospodinov, Ignacio Lopez Gaffney, Serena Ng
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Variations in the low- and high-frequency components of temperature may have distinct impacts on economic outcomes. Parametric and non-parametric estimates from three panels of data all find significant heterogeneity in the relative importance of the two components, but there is clear evidence in each panel of a common, slowly evolving low-frequency factor that is highly correlated with the low-frequency factor of economic activity. In regressions that quantify the output effects of the components, we find that one-way clustered standard errors often lead to size distortions, and that an additive fixed effect specification does not adequately control for common time effects. Using bootstrap inference to assess estimates from our preferred interactive fixed effect specification, we only find a marginally significant effect of the high-frequency component on growth in the U.S. panel. However, the effect of the low-frequency component is significant in the European and International panels, suggesting that the increase in the low-frequency temperature component over the post-1980 period is associated with a reduction in economic growth of approximately 1.3 percentage points. The findings are corroborated by time series estimation using data at the unit and national levels.
Identification and Estimation of Demand Models with Endogenous Product Entry and Exit
Victor Aguirregabiria, Alessandro Iaria, Senay Sokullu
Comments 65 pages, 2 figures, 8 tables
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Firms are more likely to introduce products in markets where they anticipate stronger demand. They also possess information that is unobserved to researchers. This creates endogenous selection bias in the estimation of demand parameters. With differentiated products, the entry decision violates the monotonicity conditions required for standard selection-correction methods to yield consistent demand estimates. Existing studies address this issue either by imposing strong assumptions about firms' information on demand at the time of entry or by jointly estimating a full equilibrium model of demand, pricing, and entry. Both strategies make the estimation of demand heavily reliant on supply-side assumptions. We propose a new semiparametric estimation method that addresses these limitations. Our approach exploits the correlation across products in their market-entry decisions to identify entry probabilities conditional not only on observable characteristics but also on latent variables that capture unobserved interdependencies among firms' entry choices. We refer to these probabilities as latent propensity scores. We show that the selection bias term in the demand equation is a convolution of these latent propensity scores and is therefore identifiable. Building on this result, we develop a two-step semiparametric estimator in the spirit of standard sample-selection correction methods. Applying our method to data from the airline industry, we find that conventional approaches to correcting for selection bias substantially underestimate price elasticities of demand.
Coalitions in Repeated Games
S. Nageeb Ali, Ce Liu
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This paper proposes a framework and solution concept for repeated coalitional behavior. We model history-dependent schemes that deter coalitions from blocking using continuation promises and punishments. We evaluate the effectiveness of these schemes across a range of settings, and apply our results to repeated matching and negotiations.