Transparency is Overrated: Communicating in a Coordination Game with Private Information
54 Pages Posted: 6 Feb 2018
Date Written: December 14, 2017
Abstract
We consider an experiment with a version of the Battle of the Sexes game with two-sided private information, allowing a possible round of either one-way or two-way cheap talk before the game is played. We compare different treatments to study truthful revelation of information and subsequent payoffs from the game. We find that the players are overall truthful about their types in the cheap-talk phase in both one-way or two-way talk. Furthermore, the unique symmetric cheap-talk equilibrium in the two-way cheap talk game is played when they players fully reveal their information; however, they achieve higher payoffs in the game when the talk is one-way as the truthful reports facilitate desired coordination.
Keywords: battle of the sexes, private information, cheap talk, coordination
JEL Classification: C720, C920, D830
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation