Public Communication and Information Acquisition

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chahrour, Ryan
• 署名单位: Boston College
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.6.3.73
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 73-101
• 关键词: Central bank transparency; social value; COORDINATION; prices; dissemination; DESIGN; POLICY

摘要

This paper models the tradeoff, perceived by central banks and other public actors, between providing the public with useful information and the risk of overwhelming it with excessive communication. An information authority chooses how many signals to provide regarding an aggregate state and agents respond by choosing how many signals to observe. When agents desire coordination, the number of signals they acquire may decrease in the number released. The optimal quantity of communication is positive but does not maximize agents' acquisition of information. In contrast to a model without information choice, the authority always prefers to provide more precise signals. (JEL D82, D83, E52, E58)