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Deliberative Institutions and Optimality

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Abstract

We derive necessary and sufficient conditions to achieve efficiency in common interest deliberative games. Our model explicitly characterizes a large class of deliberative institutions where privately informed agents strategically deliberate before taking a decision. Under the model's information structure, the transmission of information may require interpretation from agents with specific knowledge. The dynamics of interpretation are suggestive of a variety of frictions in information transmission. Private information is aggregated, and efficient decisions are taken at equilibrium, if and only if deliberative institutions enable the agents to extend deliberation (consensual extension) and freely interact with one another (freedom of reach). When, instead, these conditions do not hold, deliberation is incomplete and “anything goes”: no general conclusion can be drawn as efficiency depends on the details of the deliberative extended-form game. We substantiate some of the implications of this indeterminacy result through detailed examples.

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  • Jérôme Mathis & Marcello Puca & Simone M. Sepe, 2021. "Deliberative Institutions and Optimality," CSEF Working Papers 614, Centre for Studies in Economics and Finance (CSEF), University of Naples, Italy, revised 09 Jun 2021.
    • Handle: RePEc:sef:csefwp:614
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dynamic group communication; Collective choice; Strategic deliberation.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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