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Fake Experts

Author

Listed:
  • Patrick Lahr
  • Justus Winkelmann

Abstract

We consider a multi-sender cheap talk model, where the receiver faces uncertainty over whether senders have aligned or state-independent preferences. This uncertainty generates a trade-off between giving sufficient weight to the most informed aligned senders and minimizing the influence of the unaligned. We show that preference uncertainty diminishes the benefits from specialization, i.e., senders receiving signals with more dispersed accuracy. When preference uncertainty becomes large, it negates them entirely, causing qualified majority voting to become the optimal form of communication. Our results demonstrate how political polarization endangers the ability of society to reap the benefits of specialization in knowledge.

Suggested Citation

  • Patrick Lahr & Justus Winkelmann, 2019. "Fake Experts," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2019_093, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2019_093
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    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp093
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cheap Talk; Information Aggregation; Voting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations

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