I think the idea of contracts is interesting. I’m probably less optimistic (or pessimistic?) than the authors that the sub-agents can always contract to complete their preferences. For one thing, contracts might be expensive to make. Second, even free contracts might not be incentivized, for the usual reasons rational agents cannot always avoid inefficiencies in trading (cf the Myerson-Satterthwaite theorem).
On might object that Myerson–Satterthwaite doesn’t allow for smart contracts that can conditionally disclose private information. But then I’d argue that these types of smart contracts are probably expensive to make, and thus not always incentivized.
I think the idea of contracts is interesting. I’m probably less optimistic (or pessimistic?) than the authors that the sub-agents can always contract to complete their preferences. For one thing, contracts might be expensive to make. Second, even free contracts might not be incentivized, for the usual reasons rational agents cannot always avoid inefficiencies in trading (cf the Myerson-Satterthwaite theorem).
On might object that Myerson–Satterthwaite doesn’t allow for smart contracts that can conditionally disclose private information. But then I’d argue that these types of smart contracts are probably expensive to make, and thus not always incentivized.