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The Dark Side of Competitive Pressure

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Abstract
One of the most basic principles in economics is that competitive pressure promotes efficiency. However, this pressure can also have a dark side because it makes firms reluctant to act on private information that is unpopular with consumers. As a result, firms that possess superior information about the consequences of their actions for consumers' welfare may choose not to use it. We develop this idea in a simple model of delegated investment in which agents are fully rational and risk neutral, and agency problems are absent. We show that competitive pressure obliges firms to make inefficient decisions when their information advantage over consumers is relatively small. This result could be applied to a broad range of economically important situations.

Suggested Citation

  • Jason G. Cummins & Ingmar Nyman, 2002. "The Dark Side of Competitive Pressure," Economics Working Paper Archive at Hunter College 02/3, Hunter College Department of Economics, revised 2002.
    • Handle: RePEc:htr:hcecon:02/3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Roland Hodler & Simon Loertscher & Dominic Rohner, 2010. "Biased Experts, Costly Lies, and Binary Decisions," Working Papers 10.01, Swiss National Bank, Study Center Gerzensee.
    2. Ascensión Andina-Díaz & José A. García-Martínez, 2014. "Media silence, feedback power and reputation," Working Papers 2014-03, Universidad de Málaga, Department of Economic Theory, Málaga Economic Theory Research Center.
    3. Alex Young, 2018. "How does competition affect real earnings management to meet or beat targets? Evidence from import tariff reductions," Annals of Finance, Springer, vol. 14(3), pages 331-342, August.
    4. Matthew J. Baker & Ingmar Nyman, 2017. "Job Hoarding," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 173(4), pages 688-722, December.
    5. Hongbin Cai & Qiao Liu, 2009. "Competition and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Chinese Industrial Firms," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(537), pages 764-795, April.
    6. Ascensión Andina Díaz & José A. García-Martínez, 2016. "A careerist judge with two concerns," Working Papers 2016-02, Universidad de Málaga, Department of Economic Theory, Málaga Economic Theory Research Center.
    7. Kemal Kivanç Aköz & Cemal Eren Arbatli, 2016. "Information Manipulation in Election Campaigns," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 181-215, July.
    8. Abhinav Sacheti & Ian Gregory-Smith & David Paton, 2016. "Managerial Decision Making Under Uncertainty," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 17(1), pages 44-63, January.
    9. Andina-Díaz, Ascensión & García-Martínez, José A., 2020. "Reputation and news suppression in the media industry," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 240-271.
    10. Jason G. Cummins & Ingmar Nyman, 2013. "Yes Men in Tournaments," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 169(4), pages 621-659, December.
    11. Matthew Baker & Ingmar Nyman, 2009. "Competitive Pressure and Lying in Search Markets," Economics Working Paper Archive at Hunter College 426, Hunter College Department of Economics.
    12. Ascensión Andina-Díaz, 2015. "Competition and uncertainty in a paper’s news desk," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 116(1), pages 77-93, September.
    13. Kemal K?vanc Akoz & Cemal Eren Arbatli, 2013. "Manipulated voters in competitive election campaigns," HSE Working papers WP BRP 31/EC/2013, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    14. Po-Chin Wu & Shiao-Yen Liu & Ming-Fang Yang, 2017. "Nonlinear Exchange Rate Pass-Through: The Role of National Debt," Global Economic Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 1-17, January.
    15. Alex Chu & Xingqiang Du & Guohua Jiang, 2011. "Buy, Lie, or Die: An Investigation of Chinese ST Firms’ Voluntary Interim Audit Motive and Auditor Independence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(1), pages 135-153, August.
    16. Mike Felgenhauer, 2012. "Revealing information in electoral competition," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 153(1), pages 55-68, October.
    17. Atawnah, Nader & Balachandran, Balasingham & Duong, Huu Nhan & Podolski, Edward J., 2018. "Does exposure to foreign competition affect stock liquidity? Evidence from industry-level import data," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 44-67.
    18. Ingmar Nyman & Matthew Baker, 2008. "Conformity in search markets," Economics Working Paper Archive at Hunter College 422, Hunter College Department of Economics.
    19. Cherbonnier, Frédéric & Lévêque, Christophe, 2021. "The impact of competition on expert's information disclosure: the case of real estate brokers," TSE Working Papers 21-1255, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    20. Ingmar Nyman & Jason G. Cummins, 2005. "Information Management in Rank-Order Tournaments," Economics Working Paper Archive at Hunter College 413, Hunter College Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competition; Information Aggregation; Incentives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • D40 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - General
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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