Reversibility in Dynamic Coordination Problems

Agents at the beginning of a dynamic coordination process (1) are uncertain about actions of their fellow players and (2) anticipate receiving strategically relevant information later on in the process. In such environments, the irreversibility of early actions plays an important role in the choice among them. We characterize the strategic effects of the reversibility option on the coordination outcome. Such an option can either enhance or hamper efficient coordination, and we determine the direction of the effect based only on simple features of the coordination problem. The analysis is based on a generalization of the Laplacian property known from static global games: players at the beginning of a dynamic game act as if they were entirely uninformed about aggregate play of fellow players in each stage of the coordination process.: Delay, Exit, Global Games, Laplacian Belief, Learning, Option, Reversibility.

Reversibility in Dynamic Coordination Problems

Agents at the beginning of a dynamic coordination process (1) are uncer-tain about actions of their fellow players and (2) anticipate receiving strategi-cally relevant information later on in the process. In such environments, the (ir)reversibility of early actions plays an important role in the choice among them. We characterize the strategic effects of the reversibility option on the coordination outcome. Such an option can either enhance or hamper efficient coordination, and we determine the direction of the effect based only on simple features of the coordination problem. The analysis is based on a generaliza-tion of the Laplacian property known from static global games: players at the beginning of a dynamic game act as if they were entirely uninformed about aggregate play of fellow players in each stage of the coordination process. JEL classification: C7, D8

Reversibility in Dynamic Coordination Problems

Agents at the beginning of a dynamic coordination process (1) are uncertain about actions of their fellow players and (2) anticipate receiving strategically relevant information later on in the process. In such environments, the (ir)reversibility of early actions plays an important role in the choice among them. We characterize the strategic effects of the reversibility option on the coordination outcome. Such an option can either enhance or hamper efficient coordination, and we determine the direction of the effect based only on simple features of the coordination problem. The analysis is based on a generalization of the Laplacian property known from static global games: Players at the beginning of a dynamic game act as if they were entirely uninformed about aggregate play of fellow players in each stage of the coordination process

Who Matters in Coordination Problems?

We consider a common investment project that is vulnerable to a self-fulfilling coordination failure and hence is strategically risky. Based on their private information, agents { who have heterogeneous investment incentives - form expectations or "sentiments" about the project's outcome. We find that the sum of these sentiments is constant across different strategy profiles and it is independent of the distribution of incentives. As a result, we can think of sentiment as a scarce resource divided up among the different payoff types. Applying this finding, we show that agents who benefit little from the project's success have a large impact on the coordination process. The agents with small benefits invest only if their sentiment towards the project is large per unit investment cost. As the average sentiment is constant, a subsidy decreasing the investment costs of these agents will "free up" a large amount of sentiment, provoking a large impact on the whole economy. Intuitively, these agents, insensitive to the project's outcome and hence to the actions of others, are influential because they modify their equilibrium behavior only if the others change theirs substantially.Heterogeneous Agents, Global Games, Poverty Traps, Strategic Complementarity, Representative Agent.

Insecure debt

We analyse bank runs under fundamental and asset liquidity risk, adopting a realistic description of bank default. We obtain an unique run equilibrium, even as fundamental risk becomes arbitrarily small. When safe returns are securitized and pledged to repo debt, funding costs are reduced but risk becomes concentrated on unsecured debt. We show the private choice of repo debt leads to more frequent unsecured debt runs. Thus satisfying safety demand via secured debt creates risk directly. Collateral fire sales upon default may reduce its liquidity and lead to higher haircuts, which further increase the frequency of runs

Dynamic coordination with timing frictions: theory and applications

We start by presenting the general model of dynamic coordination with timing frictions and some key theoretical results. We prove the model features a unique rationalizable equilibrium, present a method to solve the social planner problem and derive expressions for the equilibrium threshold in limiting cases. With this toolkit in hand, we get analytical results for a case with linear preferences and present several applications, ranging from network externalities to statistical discrimination and to macroeconomics. Besides generating insights for specific questions, the applications illustrate the potential of the model to accommodate a large set of economic problems. Last, we show extensions of the framework that allow for endogenous hazard rates, preemption motives and ex-ante heterogeneous agents

Tractable dynamic global games and applications

We present a family of tractable dynamic global games and its applications. Agents privately learn about a fixed fundamental, and repeatedly adjust their investments while facing frictions. The game exhibits many externalities: payoffs may depend on the volume of investment, on its volatility, and on its concentration. The solution is driven by an invariance result: aggregate investment is (in a pivotal contingency) invariant to a large family of frictions. We use the invariance result to examine how frictions, including those similar to the Tobin tax, affect equilibrium. We identify conditions under which frictions discourage harmful behavior without compromising investment volume

Who Matters in Coordination Problems?

Agents face a coordination problem akin to the adoption of a network technology. A principal announces investment subsidies that, at minimal cost, attain a given likelihood of successful coordination. Optimal subsidies target agents who impose high externalities on others and on whom others impose low externalities. Based on the analysis of the role of strategic uncertainty in coordination processes, we provide a methodology that can be used to find the optimal targets for a variety of interventions in a large class of coordination problems with heterogeneous agents

Competition in Markets with Network Externalities

This paper analyzes the effects of network externalities on an incumbent's advantage in a duopoly models where an entrant and an incumbent strategically set prices. A Global Games approach is used as an equilibrium refinement, where consumers receive both a public and a private signal about the entrant's quality. While a unique equilibrium is not guaranteed in all of the cases, the incumbent's advantage arises in specific cases depending on the relative precision of the signals. As an extension, I show in a model of endogenous advertisement choice that the multiple equilibria problem is resolved because the entrant prefers an advertisement level which makes the private signal precise enough to generate a unique equilibrium.Doctor of Philosoph