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Living A Lie: Theory And Evidence On Public Preference Falsification, John Duffy, Jonathan Lafky
Living A Lie: Theory And Evidence On Public Preference Falsification, John Duffy, Jonathan Lafky
Department of Economics Working Paper Series
We propose a model of how public behavior changes in response to the evolution of privately held preferences. Our aim is to rationalize the tendency for individuals who hold minority viewpoints to falsely report their preferences by taking actions favored by the majority. We do this using a game involving a tension between honest expression of one’s true preferences and a desire to conform to the behavior of others. In an experimental test of our model, we find confirmatory support for the model’s main predictions, that even after a majority of the population shares what was previously an unpopular minority …