Information Cascades in Politics
Kevin Zollman, an associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University who studies game theory, gives a scientific reason on why republicans were flip-flopping on their endorsements towards Donald trump. He theorizes that the republicans’ decisions are based on the theory of information cascades. According to the article, after the release of the tape where Trump makes lewd comments about women, the republican officials started to withdraw their endorsements towards Trump. Zollman continues to explain that this started an information cascade and more and more people started to withdraw their endorsements once a couple of people started to do it. However, Zollman points out that Trump was smart and began to retaliate against the people that started to withdraw their endorsements. Trump made threats to the people who were withdrawing their endorsement and because of the fear that they were the minority and that Trump can really attack them, the people who started to withdraw the endorsements changed their decisions again and started to endorse Donald Trump again.
This article shows a professor using the theory of information cascades to explain some of the politics that goes on in the world. It also shows the importance of understanding how information cascades work. According to the article Trump recognized the potential threat of losing a lot of endorsement because of the information cascade, so he retaliated and his retaliation started another information cascade for the people to endorse him. Information cascades can be a very big deal in the world of politics because nobody likes to be a part of a minority, so people would end up following after what the majority of people do, whether that be a good or bad choice. In the world of politics this issue is especially bigger because it can make or break a career.
Link:Why Republicans Are Flip-Flopping on Their Endorsements