← Search

American Economic Review Vol. 92 No. 5 2002

Social Value of Public Information

Stephen Morris1; Hyun Song Shin2

1 Cowles Foundation, Yale University, P.O. Box 208281, New Haven, CT 06520. · 2 London School of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE U. K.

open access

Abstract

What are the welfare effects of enhanced dissemination of public information through the media and disclosures by market participants with high public visibility? We examine the impact of public information in a setting where agents take actions appropriate to the underlying fundamentals, but they also have a coordination motive arising from a strategic complementarity in their actions. When the agents have no socially valuable private information, greater provision of public information always increases welfare. However, when agents also have access to independent sources of information, the welfare effect of increased public disclosures is ambiguous.

DOI
10.1257/000282802762024610
Volume
92
Issue
5
Pages
1521-1534
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

Cite