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The perils of a coherent narrative

Author

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  • Alessandro Ispano

    (Université Paris-Dauphine PSL
    IUF the department, Institut Universitaire de France)

Abstract

A persuader influences a decision maker by providing a narrative for interpreting upcoming news. The decision maker adopts the narrative if it does not distort the marginal distribution of news. Both parties can benefit if the persuader can provide news-contingent (overall incoherent) narratives, privately learn the truth, or design the process of news arrival.

Suggested Citation

  • Alessandro Ispano, 2025. "The perils of a coherent narrative," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 80(3), pages 745-759, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:80:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s00199-025-01640-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-025-01640-w
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ran Spiegler, 2016. "Bayesian Networks and Boundedly Rational Expectations," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 131(3), pages 1243-1290.
    2. Simone Galperti, 2019. "Persuasion: The Art of Changing Worldviews," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(3), pages 996-1031, March.
    3. Beauchêne, Dorian & Li, Jian & Li, Ming, 2019. "Ambiguous persuasion," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 179(C), pages 312-365.
    4. Kfir Eliaz & Ran Spiegler, 2020. "A Model of Competing Narratives," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(12), pages 3786-3816, December.
    5. Paul R. Milgrom, 1981. "Good News and Bad News: Representation Theorems and Applications," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 12(2), pages 380-391, Autumn.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alice Soldà & Marie Claire Villeval, 2025. "Narratives as a Persuasion Tool in Performance Appraisals," Working Papers 2505, Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon St-Étienne (GATE Lyon St-Étienne), Université de Lyon.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

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