We examine the role of information in markets that allocate computation to software agents. The comparison of two types of markets illuminates the importance of information and the incentives for buyers and sellers to share their preferences with each other. In our comparison, the distinguishing feature of the two markets types is the alignment of agents’ interests. We define a closed-interest market as one where resources are collectively owned among the agents. An open-interest market makes no assumptions on the interests of agents or resource owners.

The incentives of agents in the two markets drastically differ. The open-interest model motivates agents to be less trusting and to not share information. This aspect stems from the model’s greater applicability to resource allocation, but has a deep impact on system efficiency. In this paper, we summarize some economic theory and allegorical evidence from our models and system implementations that support the claim, and conclude with guidelines for system development.