Learning, public good provision, and the information trap

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of Public Economics
Year: 2008
Volume: 92
Issue: 5-6
Pages: 998-1010

Score contribution per author:

1.341 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We consider an economy with uncertainty about the true production function for a public good. By using Bayes rule the economy can learn from experience. We show that it may learn the truth, but that it may also converge to an inefficient policy where no further inference is possible so that the economy is stuck in an information trap. We also show that our results are robust with respect to small experimentation.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:pubeco:v:92:y:2008:i:5-6:p:998-1010
Journal Field
Public
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-24