When Collective Ignorance is Bliss: Theory and Experiment on Voting for Learning

When do groups and societies choose to be uninformed? We study a committeethat needs to vote on a reform which will give every member a private statedependent payoff. The committee can vote to learn the state at no cost. We... [ view full abstract ]

When do groups and societies choose to be uninformed? We study a committee
that needs to vote on a reform which will give every member a private statedependent payoff. The committee can vote to learn the state at no cost. We show that the committee votes not to learn the state whenever independent voters are more fractionalised than partisans. We also run a laboratory experiment that confirms this result. This implies that divided societies tend to seek less information, to make decisions in haste, and to show less support for institutions that make the public more informed.