  We consider stopping problems in which a decision maker (DM) faces an unknown
state of nature and decides sequentially whether to stop and take an
irreversible action; pay a fee and obtain additional information; or wait
without acquiring information. We discuss the value and quality of information.
The former is the maximal discounted expected revenue the DM can generate. We
show that among all history-dependent fee schemes, the upfront scheme (as
opposed, for instance, to pay-for-use) is optimal: it generates the highest
possible value of information. The effects on the optimal strategy of obtaining
information from a more accurate source and of having a higher discount factor
are distinct, as far as expected stopping time and its distribution are
concerned. However, these factors have a similar effect in that they both
enlarge the set of cases in which the optimal strategy prescribes waiting.
