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February 26, 2026American Economic Review Insights0 citations

Rational Inattention during a Randomized Controlled Trial

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BMBartosz MaćkowiakMWMirko Wiederholt

Key Points

  • The research examines how treatment effects in information provision experiments are influenced by rational inattention within dynamic models.
  • Introduced an information provision experiment into a rational inattention framework.
  • Derived analytical results regarding treatment effects based on environmental and individual characteristics.
  • Discussed findings in the context of existing empirical literature on information provision.
  • Identified how treatment effects differ depending on individual characteristics and environmental factors.
  • Provided insights into behaviors outside the survey context linked to rational inattention.

Abstract

We introduce an information provision experiment into a standard dynamic rational inattention model. We derive analytical results about how the treatment effect varies with characteristics of the environment and the individual. We use these results to discuss findings in the empirical literature on information provision experiments that can be explained by rational inattention of survey respondents and what this interpretation implies about behavior outside the survey. (JEL C90, D83, D91)

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Cite This Study

Maćkowiak et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/699fe41d95ddcd3a253e854ehttps://doi.org/10.1257/aeri.20240509
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