To date, most experimental studies of the tragedy of the anticommons treat individuals’ preferences as common knowledge. Here, we conduct experiments in which values are private information. We vary the bargaining institution, the buyer's signaled willingness to pay, and the fraction of...

Although the holdout problem is a well-established part of legal and economic lore, the exact source of the problem is not well understood. The problem is usually attributed to high transaction costs or excessive bargaining power on the part of sellers once they recognize the scope of the...

Incomplete markets do not provide accurate information about people's subjective valuations of goods. Knowledge of these subjective valuations is often important, however, for example when compensation payments for damaged or destroyed property are required. We argue that in such cases, an...