Complex Disclosure
1 : University of Maryland
(UMD)
2 : Harvard Business School
(HBS)
3 : Paris School of Economics
(PSE)
PARIS SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
Using laboratory experiments, We implement a simple two-player disclosure game in which senders must report their type to receivers, but can make their reports complex, so that receivers have to exert cognitive effort to understand the report. I find that senders are able to use complexity to successfully conceal lower types, which indicates that receivers are not fully attentive to complex reports. It also suggests that there is a breakdown in the logic of unraveling, which generates the theoretical prediction that only simple reports should be used in equilibrium.