In this note we show that the equilibrium characterized by Biais, Martimort and Rochet (Econometrica, 78, 2000) could have been characterized by using direct mechanisms.

Several authors have indicated a contradiction between consistent aggregation of subjective beliefs and tastes, and a Pareto condition. We argue that the Pareto condition that implies the contradiction is not compelling. Society should not necessarily endorse a unanimous choice when it is based...

Aumann(1976) has shown that agents who have a common prior cannot have common knowledge of their posteriors for event E if these posteriors do not coincide. But given an event E, can the agents have posteriors with a common prior such that it is common knowledge that the posteriors for E *do*...

Adaptive learning models that have been tested against experimental data typically share two features: (i) initial attractions (or beliefs) are given exogenously, and (ii) learning is based on the performance of stage-game actions rather than repeated game strategies. We develop a model of...

We offer a model in which sequences of individuals often converge upon poor decisions and are prone to fads, despite being able to communicate both past payoff outcomes and the private signals underlying past choices. This reflects direct and indirect action-based informational externalities;...

It has been said, fairly plausibly, that "Bayesian inference is one of the most widely known eponyms in all of science". But unlike common scientific eponyms, it is by no means clear exactly what "Bayesian" means, and what it has to do with Bayes. "Bayesian", and the dozen or so words and...

The type function of an agent, in a type space, associates with each state a probability distribution on the type space. Thus, a type function can be considered as a Markov chain on the state space. A common prior for the space turns out to be a probability distribution which is invariant under...

Auctions play an important role in economics. In their most basic form, they are one of the ways in which various commodities, financial assets and concession rights are allocated to individuals and firms, particularly in a market-oriented setting. An auction is a market institution with an...