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Information Aggregation in Large Protests: A Continuum Model

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  • Mehmet Ekmekci

  • Stephan Lauermann

Abstract

We study information transmission through informal elections. Our leading example is that of protests in which there may be positive costs or benefits of participation. The aggregate turnout provides information to a policy maker. However, the presence of activists adds noise to the turnout. The interplay between noise and participation costs leads to strategic substitution and complementarity effects in citizens' participation choices, and we characterize the implications for the informativeness of protests. In particular, we show that rather than being a friction, costs may facilitate information transmission by lending credibility to protest participation.

Suggested Citation

  • Mehmet Ekmekci & Stephan Lauermann, 2019. "Information Aggregation in Large Protests: A Continuum Model," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2019_080v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany, revised Dec 2024.
    • Handle: RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2019_080v2
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    File URL: https://www.crctr224.de/research/discussion-papers/archive/dp080
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Evren, Özgür, 2012. "Altruism and voting: A large-turnout result that does not rely on civic duty or cooperative behavior," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(6), pages 2124-2157.
    2. Timothy Feddersen & Wolfgang Pesendorfer, 1997. "Voting Behavior and Information Aggregation in Elections with Private Information," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 65(5), pages 1029-1058, September.
    3. Davide Cantoni & David Y Yang & Noam Yuchtman & Y Jane Zhang, 2019. "Protests as Strategic Games: Experimental Evidence from Hong Kong's Antiauthoritarian Movement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(2), pages 1021-1077.
    4. repec:ehl:lserod:100316 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Ronny Razin, 2003. "Signaling and Election Motivations in a Voting Model with Common Values and Responsive Candidates," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 71(4), pages 1083-1119, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kailin Chen, 2025. "Communication with Multiple Senders," Papers 2505.14639, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2025.

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General

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