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Political Science and Political Economy Research Seminar & Political Science and Political Economy Research Seminar

Echo Chamber Elections

Helios Herrera (University of Warwick), joint with Ravideep Sethi

Tuesday 12 October 2021 14:00 - 15:30

Many of our seminars and public events this year will continue as in person or as hybrid (online and in person) events. Please check our website listings and Twitter feed @STICERD_LSE for updates.

Unless otherwise specified, in-person seminars are open to the public. Please ensure you have informed the event contact as early as possible.

Those unable to join the seminars in-person are welcome to participate via zoom if the event is hybrid.


About this event

Elections aggregate information of citizens who gather information, in part from mainstream news, but possibly to a large extent from their different echo chambers which filter news in particular ways. We study information aggregation and electoral outcomes in the presence of endogenous echo chambers. Citizens choose their echo chambers in a self-serving way, in part to shield them from the outside world (mainstream news) and thus preserve their political faith as often as possible. The key asymmetry is how isolated citizens are, namely how much they trust/distrust mainstream news to begin with. We study in several contexts the electoral advantage that the side with more isolated followers may have. This advantage can turn into a sure electoral victory regardless of the true state of the world, thereby failing information aggregation, in some instances. Information aggregation can still fail if voters can abstain, don't fully trust their echo chamber sources, and with echo chamber disinformation.

The Political Science and Political Economy (PSPE) research group at the LSE brings together faculty and PhD students who do quantitative and/or formal research on political institutions, political behaviour, public policy, and political economy.

The PSPE Research Seminar provides a venue for researchers (mostly from outside of the LSE) to present their work.

These seminars are held on Tuesdays in term time at 14.00-15.30, both ONLINE AND IN PERSON in room SAL 3.05, unless specified otherwise.

Seminar coordinators: Aliz Toth, Carl Muller Crepon and Nirvikar Jassal

Contact gov.comms@lse.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list and to recieve the zoom link.

For further information please contact Maddie Giles: gov.comms@lse.ac.uk.

The Political Science and Political Economy (PSPE) research group at the LSE brings together faculty and PhD students who do quantitative and/or formal research on political institutions, political behaviour, public policy, and political economy.

The PSPE Research Seminar provides a venue for researchers (mostly from outside of the LSE) to present their work.

These seminars are held on Tuesdays in term time at 14.00-15.30, both ONLINE AND IN PERSON in room SAL 3.05, unless specified otherwise.

Seminar coordinators: Aliz Toth, Carl Muller Crepon and Nirvikar Jassal

Contact gov.comms@lse.ac.uk to be added to the mailing list and to recieve the zoom link.

For further information please contact Maddie Giles: gov.comms@lse.ac.uk.