Paper #619
- Title:
- Informational matching
- Author:
- Silvio Rendón
- Date:
- May 2002
- Abstract:
- This paper analyzes the problem of matching heterogeneous agents in a Bayesian learning model. One agent gives a noisy signal to another agent, who is responsible for learning. If production has a strong informational component, a phase of cross-matching occurs, so that agents of low knowledge catch up with those of higher one. It is shown that: (i) a greater informational component in production makes cross-matching more likely; (ii) as the new technology is mastered, production becomes relatively more physical and less informational; (iii) a greater dispersion of the ability to learn and transfer information makes self-matching more likely; and (iv) self-matching leads to more self-matching, whereas cross-matching can make less productive agents overtake more productive ones.
- Keywords:
- Diffusion of information, Bayesian learning, matching, assortative mating
- JEL codes:
- C11, D83, J12, J24, J41
- Area of Research:
- Microeconomics
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