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Informational cascades: A mirage?

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  • Spiwoks, Markus
  • Bizer, Kilian
  • Hein, Oliver

Abstract

Experimental research found contradictory results regarding the occurrence of informational cascades. Whereas Anderson and Holt [Anderson, L.R., Holt, C.A., 1997. Information cascades in the laboratory. The American Economic Review 87, 847-862] confirmed the model of Banerjee [Banerjee, A.V., 1992. A simple model of herd behavior. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 107, 797-817], and Bikhchandani et al. [Bikhchandani, S., Hishleifer, D., Welch, I., 1992. A theory of fads, fashion, custom, and cultural change as informational cascades. Journal of Political Economy 100, 992-1026] through lab tests, Huck and Oechssler [Huck, S., Oechssler, J., 2000. Informational cascades in the laboratory: do they occur for the right reasons? Journal of Economic Psychology 21, 661-671] came to contradictory results on crucial issues. This article presents experimental evidence supporting further doubts concerning "Bayesian" informational cascades: just under two thirds of all decisions are characterized by an excessive orientation towards the private signal, and only a small number of the subjects (

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  • Spiwoks, Markus & Bizer, Kilian & Hein, Oliver, 2008. "Informational cascades: A mirage?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 193-199, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:67:y:2008:i:1:p:193-199
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    1. Cao, Qian & Li, Jianbiao & Niu, Xiaofei, 2019. "The role of overconfidence in overweighting private information: Does gender matter?," EconStor Preprints 203448, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    2. Puput Tri Komalasari & Marwan Asri & Bernardinus M. Purwanto & Bowo Setiyono, 2022. "Herding behaviour in the capital market: What do we know and what is next?," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 745-787, September.
    3. Filiz, Ibrahim & Nahmer, Thomas & Spiwoks, Markus, 2019. "Herd behavior and mood: An experimental study on the forecasting of share prices," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    4. Rui Leite & Aurora Teixeira, 2012. "Innovation diffusion with heterogeneous networked agents: a computational model," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 7(2), pages 125-144, October.
    5. Sung, Ming-Chien & McDonald, David C.J. & Johnson, Johnnie E.V. & Tai, Chung-Ching & Cheah, Eng-Tuck, 2019. "Improving prediction market forecasts by detecting and correcting possible over-reaction to price movements," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 272(1), pages 389-405.
    6. Van Parys, Jessica & Ash, Elliott, 2018. "Sequential decision-making with group identity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-18.
    7. Demirer, Riza & Kutan, Ali M. & Chen, Chun-Da, 2010. "Do investors herd in emerging stock markets?: Evidence from the Taiwanese market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 283-295, November.

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