Competing for Loyalty: The Dynamics of Rallying Support
研究单个或两个竞争主体如何动态争取群体成员支持，发现竞争在公共品或正外部性下降低福利，在公害品下提高福利，并应用于公司收购、买票和排他性交易。
We consider a class of dynamic collective action problems in which either a single principal or two competing principals vie for the support of members of a group. We focus on the dynamic problem that emerges when agents negotiate and commit their support to principals sequentially. We show that competition reduces agents' welfare with public goods, or if and only if there are positive externalities on uncommitted agents, and increases agents' welfare with public bads. We apply the model to the study of corporate takeovers, vote buying, and exclusive deals.