The current paper defines the optimal sequential information gathering structure of a rational utility maximizer … of information from a set of multidimensional goods. We show how this problem, hardly ever considered in the literature …, does not admit a simple or intuitive solution. Indeed, while the standard sequential search and information gathering …

—the theory of recursive contracts. Recursive formulations allow us to reduce often complex models to a sequence of essentially … of the basic theory: the Revelation Principle, formulating and simplifying the incentive constraints, using promised … advanced topics: duality theory and Lagrange multiplier techniques, models with lack of commitment, and martingale methods in …