“Personal Influence”: Social Context and Political Competition
研究选民社交网络如何影响政党披露信息的动机、选民对候选人的认知以及选举结果的极化程度。网络越丰富，政党披露信息越少，选民越易产生错误认知，进而加剧政治极化。
This paper studies the effect of social learning on political outcomes in a model of informative campaign advertising. Voters' communication network affects parties' incentives to disclose political information, voters' learning about candidates running for office, and polarization of the electoral outcome. In richer communication networks, parties disclose less political information and voters are more likely to possess erroneous beliefs about the characteristics of the candidates. In turn, a richer communication network among voters may lead to political polarization. These results are reinforced when interpersonal communication occurs more frequently among ideologically homogeneous individuals and parties can target political advertising.