Nicholas Brown

Why do committee members with little information potentially harm the quality of a committee’s decision by speaking? We run laboratory experiments where subjects can acquire information about the correct state of the world, communicate, and vote (with the goal of choosing the correct alternative). Contrary to the simple game theory prediction that subjects should truthfully report their information to the group, subjects frequently report information after not gathering any. Using a logit quantal response equilibrium we find that observed behavior is consistent with a desire to report signals to the group (even if the report is untrue) and a desire to tell the truth.