Timing and Skewness of Information Revelation : Evidence on Information Structures and Compound Lotteries

We design a comprehensive experimental setup to study (i) intrinsic preferences for gradual information revelation (ii) with different skewness (positive, negative, or symmetric) (iii) in two information environments. In a compound lottery environment, symmetric information revelation is preferred, while in an otherwise equivalent information structure environment, positively skewed information revelation is preferred. In both environments, early resolution is preferred over late resolution, with the three types of gradual resolution positioned in between. Our study integrates the three dimensions (timing, skewness, environment) of intrinsic preferences only studied separately to date, relates the findings to behavioral theories, and shows that careful consideration of the information environment is necessary when investigating preferences for gradual information revelation