An Information Theory of Efficient Differential Treatment
研究差别待遇政策（如优惠待遇、平权行动）何时因效率理由而合理，通过非参数分配模型分析信号结构对最优分配的影响。
When are differential treatment policies—such as preferential treatment, affirmative action, and gender equity policies—justified by efficiency concerns? I propose a nonparametric assignment model where a policymaker assigns agents to different treatments or positions to maximize total surplus, based on the agents’ characteristics and noisy information about their types. I provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the agents’ signal structures, which characterize whether surplus maximization requires differential treatment or not, and study how the bias and informativeness of signal structures determine the efficiency implications of differential treatment. I examine implications of this model for inequality, decentralization, and empirical work.