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Persuasion as a contest

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  • Stergios Skaperdas
  • Samarth Vaidya

Abstract

We examine how the probability of persuading an audience depends on resources expended by contending parties as well as on other factors. We use a Bayesian approach whereby the audience makes inferences solely based on the evidence produced by the contestants. We find conditions that yield the well-known additive contest success function, including the logit function. We also find conditions that produce a generalized “difference” functional form. In all cases, there are three main determinants of audience choice: (i) the truth and other objective parameters of the environment; (ii) the biases of the audience, and (iii) the resources expended by the interested parties. Copyright The Author(s) 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Stergios Skaperdas & Samarth Vaidya, 2012. "Persuasion as a contest," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 51(2), pages 465-486, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:51:y:2012:i:2:p:465-486
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-009-0497-2
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Rent-seeking; Advertising; Litigation; Political campaigning; Property rights; C70; D20; D70;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • D20 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - General
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General

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