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Local Evidence and Diversity in Minipublics

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  • Arjada Bardhi
  • Nina Bobkova

Abstract

A policymaker selects a minipublic—a group of citizens from a demographically diverse citizenry with access to local evidence about the impact of a policy. Citizens face uncertainty about the policymaker’s eventual policy bias, which is shown to discourage the most marginally informative minipublic citizens from discovering their evidence. We fully characterize the optimal minipublic composition. Relative to the most demographically representative minipublic, the optimal minipublic overrepresents demographics at the margins of the citizenry while underrepresenting those around the median citizen. The representativeness of the optimal minipublic varies nonmonotonically with uncertainty. Our findings bear practical implications for minipublic design.

Suggested Citation

  • Arjada Bardhi & Nina Bobkova, 2023. "Local Evidence and Diversity in Minipublics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(9), pages 2451-2508.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/724322
    DOI: 10.1086/724322
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    Cited by:

    1. Doruk Cetemen & Can Urgun & Leeat Yariv, 2023. "Collective Progress: Dynamics of Exit Waves," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 131(9), pages 2402-2450.
    2. Emilia Brito & Jesse Bruhn & Thea How Choon & E. Anna Weber, 2024. "Gender Composition and Group Behavior: Evidence from US City Councils.," Working Papers 2024-002, Brown University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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