Info asymmetry is bad---consensus of theorists.
B. Zorina Khan 20, Professor of Economics at Bowdoin College, “Introduction: Knowledge, Institutions, and Economic Progress,” Inventing Ideas: Patents, Prizes, and the Knowledge Economy, Oxford University Press, pp. 1-30, 2020, JL
For most economists, asymmetries in information between social planners and the participants in markets in inventions were central to the analysis of mechanisms to induce and disseminate inventive ideas and to ensure commercialization of innovations. Theorists agree that, in the presence of such imperfections, patent systems are “obviously superior” incentive systems and have a “peculiar informational advantage” relative to alternatives such as research contracts or prizes.47 The concerns about strictly economic issues are compounded by problems in political economy, accountability, and the possibilities for corruption and cronyism. Despite the undoubted contributions of mathematical approaches to the economics of incentives and innovation, these abstract discussions highlight the need for more specific studies of the actual implementation of rules and the actual effects of institutional mechanism design.