This paper examines a class of three-agent games with a principal and two identical agents. The role of the principal is to facilitate efficient outcomes for the two agents which are not feasible in his absence. Our results show that imposing a mediator or "facilitator" on "any" two person...

This paper evaluates direct and structural discrimination as a means of increasing efforts in the most widely studied contests. We establish that a designer who maximizes efforts subject to a balanced-budget constraint prefers dual discrimination, namely, change of the contestants ́prize...

We consider a persuasion game where multiple experts with potentially conflicting self-interests attempt to persuade a decision-maker, or, a judge. The judge prefers to take an action that is most appropriate given the true state of the world but the experts' preferences over the actions (i.e.,...

This paper evaluates differential prize taxation and structural discrimination as a means of increasing efforts in the most widely studied contests. We establish that a designer who maximizes efforts subject to a balanced-budget constraint prefers dual discrimination, namely, change of the...

The choice by a blockchain community of whether to implement a proposed policy upgrade constitutes a coordination game, for which governance rules can help community members to select an equilibrium. Unlike typical scenarios in which governance is studied, in which the entire population is...

We build an analytical framework to model the strategic interactions between a firm and hackers. Firms invest in security to defend against cyber attacks by hackers. Hackers choose an optimal attack, and they share information with each other about the firm's vulnerabilities. Each hacker prefers...

In many situations the individuals who can generate some output must enter a contest for appropriating this output. This paper analyses the investment incentives of such agents and the role of incumbency advantages in the contest. Depending on the advantages, an increase in the productivity of...

Consider a society where ethnic conflict is imminent due to people's belief about the state of the world. An `informed agent' is a player who has private information about the state. We analyze whether the informed agent can achieve peace by sending private messages to the players. If the...

Regimes controlled by a rich elite often collapse and make way for democracy amidst widespread social unrest. Such regime changes are often followed by redistribution to the poor at the expense of the former elite. We argue that the reason why the elite may have to resort to full-scale...