Attention Manipulation and Information Overload [report]

Petra Persson
2017 unpublished
How do firms respond to consumers' rational inattention? When a decision-maker's attention is limited, her decisions depend on what she focuses on. This gives interested parties an incentive to manipulate not only the substance of communication but also the decision-maker's attention allocation. This paper models such attention manipulation. In its presence, competitive information supply can reduce the decisionmaker's knowledge by causing information overload. Further, a single information
more » ... ider may deliberately induce information overload to conceal information. These findings, pertinent to consumer protection, suggest a role for rules that restrict communication, mandate not only the content but also the format of disclosure, and regulate product design.
doi:10.3386/w23823 fatcat:w7ps7aebpfczxheo3o2mg3d4qe