Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination

Camille Cornand and Frank Heinemann

Economic Journal, 2008, vol. 118, issue 528, 718-742

Abstract: Financial markets and macroeconomic environments are often characterised by positive externalities. In these environments, transparency may reduce expected welfare: public announcements serve as focal points for higher-order beliefs and affect agents' behaviour more than justified by their informational contents. Some scholars conclude that reducing public signals' precision or entirely withholding information may improve welfare. This article shows that public information should always be provided with maximum precision but, under certain conditions, not to all agents. Restricting the degree of publicity is a better-suited instrument for preventing the negative welfare effects of public announcements than restrictions on their precision are. Copyright © 2008 The Author(s).

Date: 2008
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (116)

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
Journal Article: Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination (2008)
Working Paper: Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination (2008)
Working Paper: Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination (2006)
Working Paper: Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination (2006)
Working Paper: Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination (2006)
Working Paper: Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination (2006)
Working Paper: Optimal Degree of Public Information Dissemination (2004)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ecj:econjl:v:118:y:2008:i:528:p:718-742

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... al.asp?ref=0013-0133

Access Statistics for this article

Economic Journal is currently edited by Martin Cripps, Steve Machin, Woulter den Haan, Andrea Galeotti, Rachel Griffith and Frederic Vermeulen

More articles in Economic Journal from Royal Economic Society Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley-Blackwell Digital Licensing () and Christopher F. Baum ().