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A Simple Note on Informational Cascades

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  • Fiore, Annamaria
  • Morone, Andrea

Abstract

Seminal models of herd behaviour and informational cascades point out existence of negative information externalities, and propose to ?destroy? information in order to achieve social improvements. Although in the last years many features of herd behaviour and informational cascades have been studied, this particular aspect has never been extensively analysed. In this article we try to fill this gap, investigating both theoretically and experimentally whether and to which extent destroying information can improve welfare. Our empirical results show that this decisional mechanism actually leads to a behaviour pattern more consistent with the theory that in turn produces the predicted efficiency gain.

Suggested Citation

  • Fiore, Annamaria & Morone, Andrea, 2008. "A Simple Note on Informational Cascades," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 2, pages 1-21.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:ifweej:6905
    DOI: 10.5018/economics-ejournal.ja.2008-1
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    1. Morone, Andrea & Fiore, Annamaria & Sandri, Serena, 2007. "On the absorbability of herd behaviour and informational cascades: an experimental analysis," Dresden Discussion Paper Series in Economics 15/07, Technische Universität Dresden, Faculty of Business and Economics, Department of Economics.
    2. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2005. "Simple solutions to the initial conditions problem in dynamic, nonlinear panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 39-54, January.
    3. Becker, Gary S, 1991. "A Note on Restaurant Pricing and Other Examples of Social Influences on Price," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 1109-1116, October.
    4. Andrea Morone, 2002. "Financial Market in the Laboratory," Computing in Economics and Finance 2002 151, Society for Computational Economics.
    5. Pastine, Tuvana & Pastine, Ivan, 2005. "Signal Accuracy and Informational Cascades," CEPR Discussion Papers 5219, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. John D. Hey & Andrea Morone, 2018. "Do Markets Drive Out Lemmings—or Vice Versa?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Experiments in Economics Decision Making and Markets, chapter 21, pages 467-489, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    7. Bikhchandani, Sushil & Hirshleifer, David & Welch, Ivo, 1992. "A Theory of Fads, Fashion, Custom, and Cultural Change in Informational Cascades," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(5), pages 992-1026, October.
    8. Banerjee, Abhijit & Fudenberg, Drew, 2004. "Word-of-mouth learning," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-22, January.
    9. Anderson, Lisa R & Holt, Charles A, 1997. "Information Cascades in the Laboratory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(5), pages 847-862, December.
    10. Annamaria Fiore & Andrea Morone, 2005. "Is playing alone in the darkness sufficient to prevent informational cascades?," Papers on Strategic Interaction 2005-09, Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group.
    11. Louise Allsopp & John D. Hey, 2000. "Two Experiments to Test a Model of Herd Behaviour," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 3(2), pages 121-136, October.
    12. Sgroi, Daniel, 2002. "Optimizing Information in the Herd: Guinea Pigs, Profits, and Welfare," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 137-166, April.
    13. repec:bla:econom:v:71:y:2004:i:284:p:637-659 is not listed on IDEAS
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    Cited by:

    1. Morone, Andrea & Nuzzo, Simone, 2016. "Do Markets (Institutions) Drive Out Lemmings or Vice Versa?," MPRA Paper 74322, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Morone, Andrea & Nuzzo, Simone, 2015. "Market Efficiency, Trading Institutions and Information Mirages: evidence from an experimental asset market," MPRA Paper 67448, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Giovanni Ferri & Andrea Morone, 2014. "The effect of rating agencies on herd behaviour," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 9(1), pages 107-127, April.
    4. Jacques Pelletan, 2021. "Risk perception with imperfect information and social interactions: Understanding group polarization," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(4), pages 688-703, October.
    5. Andrea Morone & Eleni Samanidou, 2008. "A simple note on herd behaviour," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 639-646, October.
      • Andrea Morone & Eleni Samanidou, 2007. "A simple note on Herd Behaviour," SERIES 0013, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza - Università degli Studi di Bari "Aldo Moro", revised Feb 2007.
    6. Morone, Andrea & Sandri, Serena & Fiore, Annamaria, 2009. "On the absorbability of informational cascades in the laboratory," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 38(5), pages 728-738, October.
    7. Andrea Morone & Simone Nuzzo, 2019. "Market efficiency, trading institutions and information mirages: evidence from a laboratory asset market," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 14(2), pages 317-344, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Informational cascades; information externality; individual decision making; experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D62 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Externalities
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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