Learning from Prices: Public Communication and Welfare

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2010
Volume: 118
Issue: 5
Pages: 866 - 907

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

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

Abstract

We study the effect of releasing public information about productivity or monetary shocks using a micro-founded macroeconomic model in which agents learn from the distribution of nominal prices. While a public release has the direct beneficial effect of providing new information, it also has the indirect adverse effect of reducing the informational efficiency of the price system. We show that the negative indirect effect can dominate. Thus, the public information release may increase uncertainty about the monetary shock and reduce welfare. We find that the optimal communication policy is always to release either all or none of the information.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/657923
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24