Date and Location: Monday, October 17, 12:00, A 0.23
Presenter: Li Xinyu
Title:  Strategic Information Disclosure
Authors: Li Xinyu & Ronald Peeters (AE1 / AE1)

Abstract: Acquiring and disclosing rivals' information is an important competitive strategy in business. In a competitive market, will a seller voluntarily acquire and disclose bad news about his rival? And is mandatory disclosure rule necessary if voluntary disclosure would not be forthcoming? In a duopoly setting, we study the seller's incentive to disclose his rival's information. We show that the seller will not disclose bad news if his profit is positively affected by such news. Although the seller may keep silent about the rival's bad news, a mandatory disclosure rule is unnecessary because it reduces total social welfare.