Limited Attention as a Scarce Resource in Information‐Rich Economies
利用心理学中关于注意力的基本事实，说明消费者有限的注意力如何影响经济竞争，并内生地决定经济是信息丰富还是信息贫乏。
This article uses basic facts from the psychology of attention to show how the limited attention of consumers affects economic competition. The article determines endogenously whether an economy is information rich or information poor. A conventional economic equilibrium results if subjects have spare attention capacity. At the positive level, the respective impacts of advances in information technology, international integration and the media on equilibrium diversity and level of attention-seeking activities are shown. At the normative level, the issues of welfare, efficiency and optimal policy interventions are addressed. Copyright © The Author(s). Journal compilation © Royal Economic Society 2008.