Advanced contract theory

A list of topics covered in this course is available in the calendar below.

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Recitations: 1 session / week, 1.5 hours / session

Microeconomic Theory I (14.121), Contract Economics (14.281), or permission of instructors.

The primary book for this course is:

Bolton, Patrick, and Mathias Dewatripont. Contract Theory. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2005. ISBN: 9780262025768.

Please see readings for more information.

There are 4 homework assignments. You will have at least two weeks to complete each one. (Some) will have a problem: to ask a question and provide an answer.

Paper is chosen by the student or suggested by the professor. Own relevant papers are allowed. Style: 25-minutes conference presentation. Includes: motivation, contribution, main points, and critical analysis. Also, would require written short report briefly outlining contribution of the paper and of related papers. In case, two or more related papers are presented by several students, one report from the group will suffice.

Students are also required to discuss the paper (and presentation) of at least one other student. (Since the presentations are made two per class, naturally presenters provide comments on each other). It is important to have these discussions as it engages at least two students on the same project.

Auctions III: Interdependent values and linkage principle

Auctions IV: Multiunit auctions and Cremer-McLean mechanism

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