Forthcoming : (Pro)-Social Learning and Strategic Disclosure
Journal article: We study a sequential experimentation model with endogenous feedback. Agents choose between a safe and risky action, the latter generating stochastic rewards. When making this choice, each agent is selfishly motivated (myopic). However, agents can disclose their experiences to a public record, and when doing so are pro-socially motivated (forward-looking). When prior uncertainty is large, disclosure is both polarized (only extreme signals are disclosed) and positively biased (no feedback is bad news). When prior uncertainty is small, a novel form of unraveling occurs and disclosure is complete. Subsidizing disclosure costs can perversely lead to less disclosure but more experimentation.
Author(s)
Nikhil Vellodi, Roland Bénabou
Journal
- American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
Date of publication
- 2025
Keywords JEL
Keywords
- Social learning
- Experimentation
- Dynamic disclosure
- Consumer reviews
- Time-inconsistent preferences
- Motivated beliefs
URL of the HAL notice
Version
- 1