The value of public information in common-value Tullock contests

Abstract

Consider a symmetric common-value Tullock contest with incomplete information in which the players’ cost of effort is the product of a random variable and a deterministic real function of effort, d. We show that the Arrow–Pratt curvature of d, $$R_{d},$$ determines the effect on equilibrium efforts and payoffs of the increased flexibility/reduced commitment that more information introduces into the contest: If $$R_{d}$$ is increasing, then effort decreases (increases) with the level of information when the cost of effort (value) is independent of the state of nature. Moreover, if $$R_{d}$$ is increasing (decreasing), then the value of public information is nonnegative (nonpositive).