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Deception Through Telling the Truth?! Experimental Evidence From Individuals and Teams

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  • Matthias Sutter

Abstract

Informational asymmetries abound in economic decision making and often provide an incentive for deception through telling a lie or misrepresenting information. In this article I use a cheap‐talk sender‐receiver experiment to show that telling the truth should be classified as deception too if the sender chooses the true message with the expectation that the receiver will not follow the sender's (true) message. The experimental data reveal a large degree of ‘sophisticated’ deception through telling the truth. The robustness of my broader definition of deception is confirmed in an experimental treatment where teams make decisions.

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  • Matthias Sutter, 2009. "Deception Through Telling the Truth?! Experimental Evidence From Individuals and Teams," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(534), pages 47-60, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:econjl:v:119:y:2009:i:534:p:47-60
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0297.2008.02205.x
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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