Electoral Competition with Rationally Inattentive Voters

Abstract

Carpini and Keeter (1996) on US voters: Only 1 voter out of 2 knows that each state has 2 senators When asked to name 2 largest spending programs: 41% says foreign aid (actual budget share: 1.5%) 14% says social security (actual budget share: 21.6%) Prior (2007) on advent of Internet: Informational asymmetries across issues (what one is informed about) have become more prominent. On average, Americans' public knowledge did not increase relative to the late 1980s (The Pew Research Center 2007). Perhaps, easier to avoid info now.