IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-02381562.html

Noisy Memory and Over-Reaction to News

Author

Listed:
  • Rava Azeredo da Silveira

    (Biophysique et Neuroscience Théoriques - LPENS (UMR_8023) - Laboratoire de physique de l'ENS - ENS Paris - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7 - SU - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Michael Woodford

    (Columbia University [New York])

Abstract

We propose a model of optimal decision making subject to a memory constraint. The constraint is a limit on the complexity of memory measured using Shannon’s mutual information, as in models of rational inattention; but our theory differs from that of Sims (2003) in not assuming costless memory of past cognitive states. We show that the model implies that both forecasts and actions will exhibit idiosyncratic random variation; that beliefs will fluctuate forever around the rational-expectations (perfect-memory) beliefs with a variance that does not fall to zero; and that more recent news will be given disproportionate weight. The model provides a simple explanation for a number of features of expectations in laboratory and field settings, most notably apparent over-reaction of both elicited forecasts and spending decisions to transitory fluctuations in economic time series.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Rava Azeredo da Silveira & Michael Woodford, 2019. "Noisy Memory and Over-Reaction to News," Post-Print hal-02381562, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02381562
    DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20191049
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a
    for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Timothy Besley & Thiemo Fetzer & Hannes Mueller, 2023. "How Big Is the Media Multiplier? Evidence from Dyadic News Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 10619, CESifo.
    2. Galanis, Giorgos & Kollias, Iraklis & Leventides, Ioanis & Lustenhouwer, Joep, 2025. "Generalizing heuristic switching models and a (boundedly) rational route away from randomness," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    3. Galanis, Giorgos & Kollias, Iraklis & Leventidis, Ioanis & Lustenhouwer, Joep, 2022. "Generalizing Heterogeneous Dynamic Heuristic Selection," CRETA Online Discussion Paper Series 73, Centre for Research in Economic Theory and its Applications CRETA.
    4. Caballero, Adrián & López-Pérez, Raúl, 2022. "Heterogeneous primacy and recency effects in frequency estimation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 182-203.
    5. Besley, Timothy & Fetzer, Thiemo & Mueller, Hannes, 2019. "Terror and Tourism: The Economic Consequences of Media Coverage," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 449, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    6. Chen Lian, 2023. "Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now," American Economic Review: Insights, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 563-581, December.
    7. Neligh, Nathaniel, 2024. "Rational memory with decay," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 120-145.
    8. Xie, Erhao, 2021. "Empirical properties and identification of adaptive learning models in behavioral game theory," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 798-821.
    9. Benjamin Enke & Thomas Graeber, 2019. "Cognitive Uncertainty," NBER Working Papers 26518, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Chahrour, Ryan & Jurado, Kyle, 2021. "Optimal foresight," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 245-259.
    11. Chen Lian, 2021. "Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now," NBER Working Papers 29517, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. George-Marios Angeletos & Karthik A. Sastry, 2025. "Inattentive Economies," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 133(7), pages 2265-2319.
    13. Galanis, Giorgos & Kollias, Iraklis & Leventidis, Ioanis & Lustenhouwer, Joep, 2022. "Generalizing Heuristic Switching Models," Working Papers 0715, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • E71 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on the Macro Economy
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02381562. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.