Adam Smith Business School

Professor Ehud Lehrer, Durham University

"Bayesian Dissuasion with Bandit Exploration"
Tuesday, 20 February. 16:00
Room 355 Gilbert Scott Building

Abstract

We investigate a two-period Bayesian persuasion game, where the receiver faces a decision, akin to a one-armed bandit problem: to undertake an action, gaining noisy information and a corresponding positive or negative payoff, or to refrain. The sender’s objective is to dissuade the receiver from taking action by furnishing information about the payoff. Our findings describe the optimal strategy for the amount and timing of information disclosure. In scenarios where the sender possesses knowledge of the receiver’s first-period action or observes a noisy public signal correlated with it, the optimal strategy entails revealing information in the second period. If this alone proves to be insufficient to dissuade the receiver from acting, supplementary information is provided in the first period. In scenarios where information must be provided without conditioning on the receiver’s first-period action, the optimal strategy entails revealing information exclusively in the first period.

Bio

Ehud Lehrer has held academic positions at Northwestern University and Tel Aviv University, and he received his PhD from the Hebrew University in 1996. His main research interests span a wide range of topics, including Ergodic and probability theories, dynamic strategic interactions, learning, the role of information in single- and multi-agent models, decision theory, cooperative games and interactive epistemology.

He received research grants from NSF, BSF, ISF, and DFG and others. He is a fellow of several professional societies, including the Game Theory Society, the Econometric Society, and the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET). In addition to his research and teaching activities, John has served as an editor of Games and Economic Behavior for seven years.

Ehud Lehrer has held academic positions at Northwestern University and Tel Aviv University, and he received his PhD from the Hebrew University in 1996. His main research interests span a wide range of topics, including Ergodic and probability theories, dynamic strategic interactions, learning, the role of information in single- and multi-agent models, decision theory, cooperative games and interactive epistemology.

He received research grants from NSF, BSF, ISF, and DFG and others. He is a fellow of several professional societies, including the Game Theory Society, the Econometric Society, and the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET). In addition to his research and teaching activities, John has served as an editor of Games and Economic Behavior for seven years.

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First published: 12 February 2024