Conferences at Department of Economics, University of Toronto, Canadian Economic Theory Conference 2012

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Optimal Delay in Committees

Hao Li*, Ettore Damiano, Wing Suen

Date: 2012-05-04 3:15 pm – 3:45 pm
Last modified: 2012-04-20

Abstract


We consider a symmetric two-member, two-alternative, three-state committee problem of information aggregation. A tight bound on maximum delay that can be imposed limits what can be implemented with a single round of delay. In a dynamic delay mechanism, each round is a direct revelation mechanism with delay uniformly bounded from above. We characterize optimal sequences of delays for any given uniform upper bound on each delay. Any optimal sequence is finite, inducing in equilibrium both a ``deadline play,'' with no attempt made to reach the efficient decision just before the deadline, and ``stop-and-start,'' with maximum attempt alternating with no attempt before the deadline play kicks in.  The latter is achieved by binding and slackening the bound on delay in turn.

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