出版社：Suntory Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines
摘要：Party activists wish to (i) advocate the best policy and yet (ii) unify behind a
common party line. An activist’s understanding of his environment is based on
the speeches of party leaders. A leader’s influence, measured by the weight
placed on her speech, increases with her judgement on policy (sense of
direction) and her ability to convey ideas (clarity of communication). A leader
with perfect clarity of communication enjoys greater influence than one with a
perfect sense of direction. Activists can choose how much attention to pay to
leaders. A necessary condition for a leader to monopolize the agenda is that she
is the most coherent communicator. Sometimes leaders attract more attention by
obfuscating their messages. A concern for party unity mitigates this incentive;
when activists emphasize following the party line, they learn more about their
environment.
