The influence of information on negotiation equilibrium

This paper studies the influence of the agents' information states on the negotiation equilibrium. This is undertaken by examining a range of negotiation scenarios in which the amount of information that agents have about their opponent's parameters is systematically varied. For each such scenario, we show that a unique equilibrium exists and investigate how the information states of agents influence the distribution property of the equilibrium solution. Our study shows the relative impacts of the opponent's parameters on the negotiation outcome. The results obtained are useful for decision making in situations where an agent has the option of choosing whom to negotiate with, from among a set of bargainers, on the basis of its information state. They also indicate which of its opponent's parameters an agent should learn in order to maximize its utility.