Seminario di Gabriele Gratton

Aula della Scuola di Dottorato, Palazzo Cà Borin, Via del Santo 22 - ore 12.30

12.09.2017

When to drop a bombshell

Seminario di Gabriele Gratton, UNSW Business School, Sydney

Sender, who is either good or bad, wishes to look good at an exogenous deadline. Sender privately observes if and when she can release a public flow of information about her private type. Releasing information earlier exposes it to greater scrutiny, but signals credibility. In equilibrium bad Sender releases information later than good Sender. We find empirical support for the dynamic predictions of our model using data on the timing of US presidential scandals and US initial public offerings. In the context of elections, our results suggest that “October Surprises” are driven by the strategic behavior of bad Sender.