1. Unless otherwise noted, the content of this course material is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - Non-Commercial - Share Alike 3.0 License. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ Copyright 2008, Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason You assume all responsibility for use and potential liability associated with any use of the material. Material contains copyrighted content, used in accordance with U.S. law. Copyright holders of content included in this material should contact open.michigan@umich.edu with any questions, corrections, or clarifications regarding the use of content. The Regents of the University of Michigan do not license the use of third party content posted to this site unless such a license is specifically granted in connection with particular content objects. Users of content are responsible for their compliance with applicable law. Mention of specific products in this recording solely represents the opinion of the speaker and does not represent an endorsement by the University of Michigan.

2. Playlist “That’s Incentive”, Death Cab for Cutie “The New Pollution”, Beck “Signal”, Laura Jansen “Screen”, Brad “Contribution”, Jurassic 5 “Bargain”, The Who

3. Signaling Jeff MacKie-Mason SI 680: Information Economics

4. Some applications Health insurance Graduate school applicants (U cares about reputation) Social clubs Marriage Professional contractors Product sellers Political candidates

5. What’s the problem? Good types want you to know they are good. Why is the “good” characteristic hidden? Well…the bad types also want you to know that they are “good”

6. “The truth is only half of what is needed; the other half is called believability.” - J. Saramago

7. How to signal that you are high quality?

8. Do something a weak firm would not do

9. Suppose: Entrepreneur agrees to pay a fine if startup goes bankrupt

10. How?

11. For example, pledge house as collateral

12. Then, high debt level signals a good firm!

13. High debt costs more to owner of poor firm

14. Recall Ferguson Used personal wealth for original financing Willing to give up consulting to be full- time

15. Why might low entry pricing signal a good firm?

16. Consumers will find out if goods are low quality, and won’t buy many in future Low initial pricing won’t be made up later if product quality low High quality products will make up for early discounts through higher sales at higher prices later

18. Screening

19. Signaling: Agent chooses action before contract offered Screening: Contract offered, specifies screen action that agent must perform

20. Source: http://www.digg.com/

26. (UCC metadata)

37. BY: betsyjean79 (flickr) flickr http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

38. Why ever let Liars participate?

39. And why when polluting:

40. Digg may get negative value from content...

41. ...but willing to publish if price is right

42. Source: http://www.yahoo.com/