We study a principal who allocates a good to agents with private, independently distributed values through an optimal mechanism. The principal can strategically shape these value distributions by modifying the good's features, which affect agents' valuations. Our analysis reveals that optimal...

We study how privacy regulations impact information transmission. A receiver faces a decision whose payoff depends on an unknown state. A platform sends a message to her given a sensitive and a nonsensitive signal. Privacy loss occurs when the receiver updates about the former. When privacy is...

We study project selection and development by a principal, interacting with two agents each of whom wants their respective project selected. When the best choice is uncertain, keeping both projects alive gives the principal the ability to adapt its choice in the future, but implies an efficiency...

How best to incentivise disclosure? We study this question in a general model in which a technological breakthrough occurs at an uncertain time and is privately observed by an agent, and a principal must incentivise disclosure via her control of a payoff-relevant physical allocation. We uncover...