The Transmission of Reliable and Unreliable Information

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ID: 322560
2026
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Abstract
Abstract Information often spreads and influences beliefs regardless of its reliability. We show that this occurs in part because indicators of reliability tend to be lost in the process of word-of-mouth transmission. We conduct controlled experiments where participants listen to economic forecasts and pass them on through voice messages. Other participants listen either to original or transmitted audio recordings and report incentivized beliefs. Across various transmitter incentive schemes, a claim’s reliability is lost in transmission much more than the claim itself. Reliable and unreliable information, once filtered through transmission, impact listener beliefs similarly. Mechanism experiments show that reliability is lost not because it is perceived as less relevant or harder to transmit, but because it is less likely to come to mind during transmission. Evidence from our experiments, a large corpus of everyday conversations, and economic TV news shows that contextual cues can bring reliability to mind and induce its transmission, but situations in which people share information seldom contain such cues.
Reference Key
openalex_W7171249781 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors Thomas Graeber, Shakked Noy, Christopher Roth
Journal the quarterly journal of economics
Year 2026
DOI
10.1093/qje/qjag037
URL
https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjag037
Keywords Keywords not found

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