Disclosure of conflicts of interest–book chapter in The Elgar Companion to Information Economics

Ting Liu and I’s survey of the literature on disclosure of conflicts of interest is now published in the book “Elgar companion to information economics,” edited by Daphne R. Raban and Julia Włodarczyk. In this review, we discuss theoretical, empirical, and experimental studies on disclosure of conflicts of interest (COI) policies in expert-client relationships. We derive some preliminary policy implications from these studies and suggest directions for future research. Here is the working paper version of our Chapter. One of the lessons we draw is that the type of information, cheap-talk or verifiable, matters to the effect of disclosure policies. Disclosure of COI is more likely to help communication under verifiable information and hurt communication under cheap-talk. Please also refer to Ting and I’s recent work on disclosure of COI when information is verifiable.

We look forward to updating our review in the future. Please feel free to contact me or Ting with comments or suggestions.