@techreport{87b3a976c407455cbae2e0fc2fc79daa,
title = "Non-monotone social learning",
abstract = "We revisit the canonical binary-state model of social learning to investigate the possibility of non-monotone learning: ceteris paribus, with some predecessor(s) switching to actions that reveal greater confidence in one state of the world, agents nevertheless become more confident in the other. A necessary and sufficient condition for non-monotone learning is provided in an illustrative setting where agents are either uninformed or partially informed by binary private signals. In a general setting with continuous private signals, we obtain a sufficient condition for non-monotone learning that does not rely on the shape of the underlying information structures apart from a couple of simple boundary requirements. As a result, a social learning process that completes eventually can be well approximated in a way such that non-monotone learning and anti-imitation are bound to happen.",
keywords = "Anti-imitation, Information structure, Social learning",
author = "Min Zhang",
year = "2020",
month = dec,
day = "7",
language = "English",
series = "School of Economics and Finance Discussion Paper",
publisher = "University of St Andrews",
number = "2008",
pages = "1--30",
type = "WorkingPaper",
institution = "University of St Andrews",
}