Rationally Inattentive Behavior: Characterizing and Generalizing Shannon Entropy

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Caplin, Andrew; Dean, Mark; Leahy, John
• 署名单位: New York University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Columbia University; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-3808
• DOI: 10.1086/719276
• 发表日期: 2022
• 页码: 1676-1715
• 关键词: information acquisition; allocation; CHOICE; renyi; MODEL

摘要

We introduce three new classes of attention cost functions: posterior separable, uniformly posterior separable, and invariant posterior separable. As with the Shannon cost function, all can be solved using Lagrangian methods. Uniformly posterior-separable cost functions capture many forms of sequential learning and hence play a key role in many applications. Invariant posterior-separable cost functions make learning strategies depend exclusively on payoff uncertainty. We introduce two behavioral axioms, Locally Invariant Posteriors and Only Payoffs Matter, which identify posterior-separable functions as uniformly and invariant posterior separable, respectively. In combination, they pinpoint the Shannon cost function.