Formalization of information: knowledge and belief

Jong Jae Lee ()
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Jong Jae Lee: Wuhan University

Economic Theory, 2018, vol. 66, issue 4, No 7, 1007-1022

Abstract: Abstract Billingsley (Probability and measure, Wiley, New Jersey, 1995) and Dubra and Echenique (Math Soc Sci 47(2):177–185, 2004) provide an example to show that the formalization of information by $$\sigma $$ σ -algebras and by partitions need not be equivalent. Although Hervés-Beloso and Monteiro (Econ Theory 54(2):405–418, 2013) provide a method to generate a $$\sigma $$ σ -algebra from a partition and another method for going in the opposite direction, we show that their two methods are in fact based on two different notions of information: (i) information as belief, (ii) information as knowledge. If information is conceived to allow for falsehoods, case (i) above, the equivalence between $$\sigma $$ σ -algebras and partitions holds after applying the notion of posterior completion suggested by Brandenburger and Dekel (J Math Econ 16(3):237–245, 1987). If information is conceived not to allow for falsehoods, case (ii) above, the equivalence holds only for measurable partitions and countably generated $$\sigma $$ σ -algebras.

Keywords: Information; $$\sigma $$ σ -Algebras; S5 knowledge; KD45 belief; Formalization of information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C60 C70 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s00199-017-1078-4

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