A researcher allocates a budget of informative tests across multiple unknown attributes to influence a decision-maker. We derive the researcher's equilibrium learning strategy by solving an auxiliary single-player problem. The attribute weights in this problem depend on how much the researcher...

We examine a setting of independent private value auctions where bidders can covertly acquire gradual information about their valuations. We demonstrate that a dynamic pivot mechanism implements the rst-best information acquisition and allocation rule. We apply our results to a commonly used...

Using microdata on stock-level lending positions from German mutual funds, we show that active funds use the equity lending market to obtain information about short sale demand. Funds reduce long positions in response to these demand signals, which allows fund managers to front-run public...

Majority voting is considered an efficient information aggregation mechanism in committee decision-making. We examine if this holds in environments where voters first need to acquire information from sources of varied quality and cost. In such environments, efficiency may depend on free-riding...

We present a geometric approach to the finite Rational Inattention (RI) model, recasting it as a convex optimization problem with reduced dimensionality that is well suited to numerical methods. We provide an algorithm that outperforms existing RI computation techniques in terms of both speed...

Most studies of gender discrimination consider how male versus female candidates are assessed given otherwise identical information about them. But, in many settings of interest, evaluators have a choice about how much information to acquire about a candidate before making a final assessment. We...

Worldwide, enterprises are hit by disasters such as cyclones and floods. Despite being impacted negatively, most enterprises do not prepare for future disasters. This study aims at understanding the determinants of enterprises' disaster preparedness. It first examines whether specific...

This paper investigates and quantifies citizens' susceptibility to fake news and assesses, using a randomized control trial, the effectiveness of a policy intervention to raise awareness. We find that the average citizen lacks proficiency in identifying fake news and harbors an inflated...

We consider a monopolistic certifier selling certification services to a partially privately informed seller. The certifier can enable the seller to disclose her private information publicly, as well as gather additional market information about the good's quality publicly. We show that the...

We implement a randomized controlled trial to investigate whether students in lower-secondary school more effectively acquire information about potential career paths if this information is preceded by a task that allows students to explore their own interests and the career information is...

Technological progress offers new and promising ways to provide targeted information to consumers and facilitate behavioral change. We conduct a randomized controlled trial with a global supermarket chain and food producer to evaluate the effectiveness of a targeted information intervention that...

How do financial markets acquire information about upcoming monetary policy decisions, beyond their reaction to central bank signals? This paper hypothesises that sharing information among investors can improve expectations, especially in the presence of disagreement or uncertainty about the...

Past research shows that the outcomes of acquisitions of private firms are better than those of public firms. This finding is commonly explained by the price discount due to illiquidity and the higher information risk involved in acquiring private firms. Existing studies do not separate the two...

This study examines how short-sale constraints affect investors’ information acquisition and thereby shape stock price efficiency. By exploiting two settings that relax short-sale constraints in the US and China, respectively, we find that the removal of short-sale constraints increases...

This paper introduces strategic preemption motives into a dynamic information acquisition model. Two players can acquire costly information about an unknown statebefore taking an irreversible safe or risky action. The risky action gives the players a higher payoff than the safe action only in...

To address credit constraints in small-business lending markets, policymakers frequently use loan guarantees, which insure lenders against default. Guarantees affect loan prices by altering the effective marginal cost of lending but may create a moral hazard problem, weakening lenders’...

A general equilibrium model is presented in which individuals can learn about the realization of a payoff relevant latent random variable at a cost or extract information embedded in prices. While only partially revealing the realization of the latent random variable, equilibrium prices fully...