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Optimizing Information in the Herd: Guinea Pigs, Profit and Welfare

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Author Info
Sgroi, D.

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Abstract

Herding arises when an agent's private informationis swamped by public information in what Jackson and Kalai (1997) call a recurring game. The agent will fail to reveal his own information and will follow the actions of his predecessor and, as a result, useful information is lost, which might have highlighted a better choice for later decision-makers. This paper evaluates the strategy of forcing a sub-set of agents to make their decision early from the perspective of a social planner, and a firm with a valuable or valueless procuct. Promotional activity by firms can be explained as an attemps to overcome the herd externality and maximize sales.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford in its series Economics Papers with number 2000-w14.

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Length: 24 pages
Date of creation: 2000
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:nuf:econwp:2000-w14

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Web page: http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk/economics/

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Related research
Keywords: HERDING ; INFORMATIONAL CASCADES ; LEARNING ; SOCIAL WELFARE ; PROMOTIONAL COMPAIGNS;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information
D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search, Learning, and Information
L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality

Cited by:
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  1. David Gill & Daniel Sgroi, 2005. "Sequential Decisions with Tests," Economics Series Working Papers 242, University of Oxford, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Olivier Gossner & Nicolas Melissas, 2004. "Informational Cascades Elicit Private Information," CIG Working Papers SP II 2004-19, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Sgroi, D., 2002. "Modelling Experience as Signal Accumulation," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0205, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. [Downloadable!]
  4. Lones Smith & Peter Norman Sorensen, 2006. "Informational Herding and Optimal Experimentation," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1552, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Daron Acemoglu & Munther A. Dahleh & Ilan Lobel & Asuman Ozdaglar, 2008. "Bayesian Learning in Social Networks," NBER Working Papers 14040, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Annamaria Fiore & Andrea Morone, 2005. "Is playing alone in the darkness sufficient to prevent informational cascades?," Experimental 0503002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Subir Bose & Gerhard Orosel & Marco Ottaviani & Lise Vesterlund, 2008. "Monopoly pricing in the binary herding model," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 37(2), pages 203-241, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Gill, David & Sgroi, Daniel, 2008. "The Optimal Choice of Pre-launch Reviewer : How Best to Transmit Information using Tests and Conditional Pricing," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 877, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. D. Sgroi, 2001. "Controlling the Herd: Applications of Herding Theory," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 0106, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge. [Downloadable!]
  10. Daniel Sgroi, 2003. "The Right Choice at the Right Time: A Herding Experiment in Endogenous Time," Experimental Economics, Springer, vol. 6(2), pages 159-180, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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This page was last updated on 2009-11-1.


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