We modify a standard Baron-Myerson model by assuming that, instead of knowing the cost of nature, the agent has to incur a cost 'g' to learn it.Under these conditions, the principal will offer contracts that, dependingon the value of 'g', try to induce the agent to gather or not to gather...

This paper explores the implications of different institutional arrangements for allocating policy-making authority among confederated districts. Using a variation on the spatial model of political competition, we compare different rules for aggregating preferences acrossthese jurisdictions,...

We study how optimal contracts are modified when the agent has the possibility to acquire information before the contract is offered to him. We consider a situation in which this information is always available to the agent just before producing. Therefore, prior information acquisition is...