Social Value of Public Information in Bargaining.

The article analyzes a continuous-time reputational bargaining game where both players are uncertain about their opponent's commitment, leading to delays and welfare losses. It investigates whether ex ante noisy public information about a player's commitment improves expected social welfare. The main finding is that more information only enhances welfare if it can "turn the bargaining table," meaning it changes which player is the strong or weak bargainer; otherwise, information about the weak bargainer has no effect, and information about the strong bargainer reduces welfare. The paper further shows that under binary signal structures, increasing the accuracy of information in every state improves welfare when the bargaining table can be turned. These results hold under independent noisy signals about one or both players and provide insights into the nuanced social value of information in bargaining scenarios characterized by incomplete information and strategic delay.