TY  - JOUR
AU  - Mullainathan,Sendhil
AU  - Schwartzstein,Joshua
AU  - Shleifer,Andrei
TI  - Coarse Thinking and Persuasion
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 12720
PY  - 2006
Y2  - December 2006
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12720
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w12720.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sendhil Mullainathan
Department of Economics
Littauer M-18
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA  02138
Tel: 617/496-2720
Fax: 617/495-7730
E-Mail: mullain@fas.harvard.edu

Joshua Schwartzstein
Dartmouth College
E-Mail: josh.schwartzstein@dartmouth.edu

Andrei Shleifer
Department of Economics
Harvard University
Littauer Center M-9
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 617/495-5046
Fax: 617/496-1708
E-Mail: ashleifer@harvard.edu
M3  - presented at "MIDM Conference", November 4, 2006
AB  - We present a model of coarse thinking, in which individuals group situations into categories, and transfer the informational content of a given message from situations in a category where it is useful to those where it is not.  The model explains how uninformative messages can be persuasive, particularly in low involvement situations, and how objectively informative messages can be dropped by the persuader without the audience assuming the worst.  The model sheds light on product branding, the structure of product attributes, and several puzzling aspects of mutual fund advertising.
ER  -