We fully characterize the preferences relations that can be represented by a utility. Representation is equivalent to the condition that preferences do not have too many "jumps". A characterization of preferences that can be represented by a continuous utility follows trivially from our...

Auction theory has emphasized the importance of private information to the profits of bidders. However, the theory has failed to consider the question of whether or not bidders will be able to keep their information private. We show that in a variety of contexts bidders will reveal all their...

Policemen are known to support colleagues who are the subject of criminal investigations. While we might expect guilty officers to defend each other, why do law-abiding policemen defend those who have broken the law? We investigate under what conditions it is in the interest of a group to defend...

In a standard search model I relax the assumption that agents know the distribution of offers and characterize the behavioral and welfare consequences of overconfidence. Optimistic individuals search longer if they are equally stubborn and high offers are good news. Otherwise, the pessimists...