A non-welfarist solution for two-person bargaining situations.

In this paper we present a non-welfarist solution which is applicable to a broad spectrum of twoagent bargaining problems, such as exchange economies, location problems and division problems. In contrast to welfarist bargaining solutions, it depends only on the agents' preferences. not on their specific utility representation, and takes explicitly into account the underlying space of alternatives. We offer a simple sequential move mechanism, without chance moves, that implements our solution in subgame perfect equilibrium. Moreover, an axiomatic characterization of the solution is provided. It is shown that the solution coincides with the Kalai-Rosenthal bargaining solution after choosing a suitable utility representation of the preferences. When applied to exchange economies with equal initial endowments for both agents, the solution generates envy-free, Pare to efficient egalitarian equivalent allocations.Bargaining; Nash program; Welfarism; Non-welfarism; Exchange economies; Location problems; Implementation;

Efficient and Stable Collective Choices under Gregarious Preferences

We consider collective choice problems where a set of agents have to choose an alternative from a finite set and agents may or may not become users of the chosen alternative. An allocation is a pair given by the chosen alternative and the set of its users. Agents have gregarious preferences over allocations: given an allocation, they prefer that the set of users becomes larger. We require that the final allocation be efficient and stable (no agent can be forced to be a user and no agent who wants to be a user can be excluded). We propose a two-stage sequential mechanism whose unique subgame perfect equilibrium outcome is an efficient and stable allocation which also satisfies a maximal participation property.Public Goods, Gregarious Preferences, Subgame Perfect Implementation

Missing Contracts: On the Rationality of not Signing a Prenuptial Agreement

Many couples do not sign prenuptial agreements, even though this often leads to costly and inefficient litigation in case of divorce. In this paper we show that strategic reasons may prevent agents from signing prenuptial agreements. Partners who value more the benefit of the marriage wish to signal their type by running the risk of a costly divorce. Hence this contract incompleteness arises as a screening device. Moreover, the threat of costly divorce is credible since the lack of an ex-ante agreement leads to a moral hazard problem within the couple, which induces partners to reject any ex-post amicable agreement.symmetric information, incomplete contracts, prenuptial agreement.

Efficient and Stable Collective Choices under Crowding Preferences

We consider a set of agents who have to choose one alternative among a finite set of social alternatives. A final allocation is a pair given by the selected alternative and the group of its users. Agents have crowding preferences over allocations: between any pair of allocations with the same alternative, they prefer the allocation with the largest number of users. We require that a decision be efficient and stable (which guarantees free participation in the group of users and free exit from it). We propose a two-stage sequential mechanism whose unique subgame perfect equilibrium outcome is an efficient and stable allocation which also satisfies a maximal participation property. The social choice function implemented by the proposed mechanism is also anonymous and group stable.Public Goods, Crowding Preferences, Subgame Perfect Implementation

On the Efficiency of Partial Information in Elections

We study the relation between the electorate's information about candidates' policy platforms during an election, and the subsequent provision of inefficient local public goods (pork) by the winning candidate. More information does not lead to better outcomes. We show that the efficient outcome in which no candidate proposes to provide any inefficient good is sustained in equilibrium only if voters are not well informed. If the electorate is well informed, electoral competition leads candidates to provide inefficient pork in all equilibria. We show that this result is robust even if candidates care about efficiency.Elections, information, inefficiency, pork, campaigns

Termination Clauses in Partnerships

In this paper, we prove that two firms may prefer not to include a termination clause in their partnership contract, thus inducing a costly termination in case of failure of the joint project. This ex-post inefficiency induces partners to exert large levels of non-contractible efforts (investments) in order to decrease the probability of failure. Therefore, the absence of a termination clause works as a "discipline device" that mitigates the hold-up problem within the partnership. We show that writing a contract without a termination clause is a credible commitment even when partners can add such a clause in the contract in any moment of their relationship. Comparative statics analysis suggests that contracts lacking a termination clause are suited to alliances in R&D, when partners are not rivals or when they have strong technological complementarities.hold-up; termination clauses; partnerships; joint ventures

Sequential innovations with unobservable follow-on investments

We consider a cumulative innovation process in which a follow-on innovator invests in R&D activities that influence both the expected commercial value as well as the novelty of its innovation. When the second innovator investments are not servable,licensing of the first innovation never occurs efficiently, and, at the equilibrium, the follow-on innovator either underinvests or overinvests. We show that a large patent breadth may be harmful for the first innovator too, and therefore Pareto-dominated;as long as the undervinvestment problem becomes more pronounced, the value generated by the follow-on innovator reduces, and so do the licensing revenues of the first inventor.sequential innovation, patents, licensing, intellectual property

Termination Clauses in Partnerships

In this paper, we prove that two firms can choose not to include a termination clause in their partnership contract, thus inducing a costly termination in case of failure of the joint project. This ex-post inefficiency induces partners to exert large non-contractible efforts (investments) to decrease the probability of failure. Therefore, the absence of a termination clause works as a ``discipline device''\ that mitigates the moral hazard problem within the partnership. We show that writing a contract without a termination clause is a credible commitment even when partners can add such a clause in the contract in any moment of their relationship.moral hazard, termination clauses, partnerships, joint ventures

A non-welfarist solution for two-person bargaining situations

In this paper we present a non-welfarist solution which is applicable to a broad spectrum of twoagent bargaining problems, such as exchange economies, location problems and division problems. In contrast to welfarist bargaining solutions, it depends only on the agents' preferences. not on their specific utility representation, and takes explicitly into account the underlying space of alternatives. We offer a simple sequential move mechanism, without chance moves, that implements our solution in subgame perfect equilibrium. Moreover, an axiomatic characterization of the solution is provided. It is shown that the solution coincides with the Kalai-Rosenthal bargaining solution after choosing a suitable utility representation of the preferences. When applied to exchange economies with equal initial endowments for both agents, the solution generates envy-free, Pare to efficient egalitarian equivalent allocations

Silence of the Innocents: Illegal Immigrants' Underreporting of Crime and their Victimization

We analyze the consequences of illegally residing in a country on the likelihood of reporting a crime to the police and, as a consequence, on the likelihood to become victims of a crime. We use an immigration amnesty to address two issues when dealing with the legal status of immigrants: it is both endogenous as well as mostly unobserved in surveys. Right after the 1986 US Immigration Reform and Control Act, which disproportionately legalized individuals of Hispanic origin, crime victims of Hispanic origin in cities with a large proportion of illegal Hispanics become considerably more likely to report a crime. Non-Hispanics show no changes. Difference-in-differences estimates that adjust for the misclassification of legal status imply that the reporting rate of undocumented immigrants is close to 11 percent. Gaining legal status the reporting rate triples, approaching the reporting rate of non-Hispanics. We also find some evidence that following the amnesty Hispanics living in metropolitan areas with a large share of illegal migrants experience a reduction in victimization. This is coherent with a simple behavioral model of crime that guides our empirical strategies, where amnesties increase the reporting rate of legalized immigrants, which, in turn, modify the victimization of natives and migrants