Intentional Vagueness ∗
نویسنده
چکیده
This paper analyzes communication with a language that is vague in the sense that identical messages do not always result in identical interpretations. It is shown that strategic agents frequently add to this vagueness by being intentionally vague, i.e. they deliberately choose less precise messages than they have to among the ones available to them in equilibrium. Having to communicate with a vague language can be welfare enhancing because it mitigates conflict. In equilibria that satisfy a dynamic stability condition intentional vagueness increases with the degree of conflict between sender and receiver. World Congress of the Game Theory Society, and the Individual Decisions and Political Process workshop at CIRANO. We are especially grateful to Joel Sobel whose many thoughtful comments led to substantial improvements in the content and exposition of this paper.
منابع مشابه
Intentional Vagueness ∗ Andreas Blume and Oliver Board
This paper analyzes communication with a language that is vague in the sense that identical messages do not always result in identical interpretations. It is shown that strategic agents frequently add to this vagueness by being intentionally vague, i.e. they deliberately choose less precise messages than they have to among the ones available to them in equilibrium. Having to communicate with a ...
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