New working paper:  Political Social-Learning: Short Term Memory and Cycles of Polarisation, Joint with Gilat Levy.

Abstract: We analyse a dynamic model in which voters use past observations to learn about the optimal outcome but have a finite memory. Political parties are self-interested, with polarised ideal policies, and voters with party loyalty are responsive to a certain degree to parties whose policy is based on a better interpretation of past observations. We show that short-term memory leads to political cycles of polarisation and convergence. Historical periods of convergence lead parties to polarise, whereas periods of historical polarisation imply convergence of platforms. More generally our framework allows us to model the strategic use of biased histories in political competition such as the use of nostalgia.

Paper available upon request