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Electoral Competition with Fake News

Author

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  • Helpman, Elhanan
  • Grossman, Gene

Abstract

Misinformation pervades political competition. We introduce opportunities for political can- didates and their media supporters to spread fake news about the policy environment and perhaps about partiesÂ’positions into a familiar model of electoral competition. In the baseline model with full information, the partiesÂ’positions converge to those that maximize aggregate welfare. When parties can broadcast fake news to audiences that disproportionately include their partisans, policy divergence and suboptimal outcomes can result. We study a sequence of models that impose progressively tighter constraints on false reporting and characterize situa- tions that lead to divergence and a polarized electorate.

Suggested Citation

  • Helpman, Elhanan & Grossman, Gene, 2019. "Electoral Competition with Fake News," CEPR Discussion Papers 14210, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14210
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    Cited by:

    1. Samuel S. Santos & Marcelo C. Griebeler, 2022. "Can fact-checkers discipline the government?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 42(3), pages 1498-1509.
    2. Liberini, Federica & Redoano, Michela & Russo, Antonio & Cuevas, Angel & Cuevas, Ruben, 2025. "Politics in the facebook era. Evidence from the 2016 US presidential elections," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    3. Yohei Yamaguchi & Ken Yahagi, 2024. "Law enforcement and political misinformation," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 36(1), pages 3-36, January.
    4. Dana Sisak & Philipp Denter, 2024. "Truth, Lies, and Social Ties: When Image Concerns Fuel Fake News," Papers 2410.19557, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2025.
    5. Rozo, Sandra V. & Vargas, Juan F., 2021. "Brothers or invaders? How crisis-driven migrants shape voting behavior," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    6. Kishishita, Daiki, 2025. "Inequality, conspiracy theories, and redistribution," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    7. Gradwohl, Ronen & Heller, Yuval & Hillman, Arye, 2025. "How social media can undermine democracy," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    8. Calum M. Carmichael, 2025. "Political representation in an era of income inequality and post-truth politics," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 36(2), pages 171-199, June.
    9. Aziz, Abeer Ibtisam & Bischoff, Ivo, 2025. "Social media campaigning and voter behavior–evidence for the German federal election 2021," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).

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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation

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