Jianrong Tian Interests: Microeconomic Theory, Information Economics, Game Theory, Mechanism Design Working Papers Optimal Interval Division, 2015 Monotone Pragmatics, 2015 I discuss how the meaning of language can depend on contexts, i.e. pragmatics. Specifically, in
a version of Crawford and Sobel (1982) in which the sender and the receiver share common preferences and with finite messages, I derive a monotone comparative statics result
on how optimal cut-offs (efficient language) change with prior beliefs (contexts), called monotone
pragmatics. Monotone pragmatics explains, for example, why Eskimo languages might have an
unusually large number of words for snow. I also discuss implications for mechanism design
with limited communication. Comparative Statics for Cut-offs, R&R for Journal of Economic Theory, 2015 Informational Herding, Optimal Experimentation, and Contrarianism, with Lones Smith and Peter Sørensen, R&R for Review of Economic Studies, 2014 (pdf) The Law of Accuracy, 2015 (pdf) Informational Inertia, with Lones Smith, 10/2014 (slides) We fully characterize a basic property, called informational inertia, of experiments with binary
states: the posterior belief, after observing a lumpy posterior event, increases with the prior belief. The lack of informational inertia is the reason that information cascades exist in observational
learning. We show that informational inertia illuminates statistical or intrinsic discrimination as
well as decision making by committees. My Thesis (pdf) | Basically, I'm not interested in doing research and I never have been. I'm interested in understanding, which is quite a different thing. And often to understand something you have to work it out yourself because no one else has done it. — David Blackwell |
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