Evolutionary insights on the willingness to communicate

While in previous models of pre-play communication players are forced to communicate, we investigate what happens if players can choose not to participate in this cheap talk. Outcomes are predicted by analyzing evolutionary stability in a population of a priori identical players. If the game following the communication rewards players who choose the same action then an e‰cient outcome is only guaranteed when participation in the preplay communication is voluntary. If however players aim to coordinate on choosing di¤erent actions in the underlying game and there are su‰ciently many messages then the highest payo¤ is selected when players are forced to talk to each other before playing the game. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C72, C79.