A model of participatory persuasion

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Deng, Liuchun; Sun, Yufeng
• 署名单位: Duke Kunshan University; Shanghai University of Finance & Economics
• 刊物名称: GAMES AND ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0899-8256
• DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2026.05.006
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: POLITICAL-ECONOMY; regime change; INFORMATION; COMMUNICATION; propaganda; CENSORSHIP; CITIZENS

摘要

This paper introduces the concept of participatory persuasion in autocracies, where regimes use controlled communication to sustain their rule. In an overlapping-generations model of democratization, we show that the regime's survival can be prolonged when citizens communicate within small circles compared to a setting in which communication is entirely absent. Paradoxically, limited freedom of speech enhances the regime's persuasion by turning citizens into inadvertent agents of state propaganda. We further extend the analysis to settings with homophily or under state censorship.