Article

From Bottom of the Barrel to Cream of the Crop: Sequential Screening with Positive Selection

Jean Tirole

Abstract

In a number of interesting environments, dynamic screening involves positive selection: in contrast with Coasian dynamics, only the most motivated remain over time. The paper provides conditions under which the principal's commitment optimum is time consistent and uses this result to derive testable predictions under permanent or transient shocks. It also identifies environments in which time consistency does not hold despite positive selection, and yet simple equilibrium characterizations can be obtained.

Keywords

Repeated relationships; screening; positive selection; time consistency; shifting preferences; exit games;

JEL codes

  • C72: Noncooperative Games
  • D42: Monopoly
  • D82: Asymmetric and Private Information • Mechanism Design

Replaces

Jean Tirole, From Bottom of the Barrel to Cream of the Crop: Sequential Screening with Positive Selection, TSE Working Paper, n. 16-672, July 2016.

Reference

Jean Tirole, From Bottom of the Barrel to Cream of the Crop: Sequential Screening with Positive Selection, Econometrica, vol. 84, n. 4, July 2016, pp. 1291–1343.

Published in

Econometrica, vol. 84, n. 4, July 2016, pp. 1291–1343