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1、5InformationandInformationalDecisionsInPartIofthisbook,coveringtheeconomicsofuncertainty,thekeytopicsaddressedwere(1)individualsoptimizingterminalchoiceswithregardtothebearingofrisk,and(2)themarketequilibriumdeterminedbytheaggregateofsuchindividualdecisions.Inturningherei
2、nPartIItotheeco-nomicsofinformation,wewillsimilarlybeconsideringissuesonindividualandongroupdecisionmaking.Ontheindividuallevel,thecentralques-tionis:supposingyoucouldgetadditionalinformationbeforehavingtomakeaterminaldecision,howoughtyoutodecidewhetherandhowmuchinformati
3、ontocollect?Onthegrouplevel,themainquestionis:whatisthenatureoftheoverallequilibriumthatariseswhensomeorallindividualsundertakesuchinformationalactions?Aftersomeintroductorydiscussions,thepresentchapter?rstanalyzesindividualsdecisionsastotheacquisitionofinformation.Wethen
4、considertheinformationalchoicesofgroups,sincethenecessitytoactasacollectivityhassigni?cantconsequencesforthenatureandamountofinformationdesired.Laterchapterstakeuptheimplicationsformarketequilibrium.5.1Information–SomeConceptualDistinctionsInformationisawordwithmanymeanin
5、gs.Someofthedistinctionstobebroughtoutherewillbeusefulinwhatfollows.InformationasknowledgeversusinformationasnewsInformationissometimestakentomeanknowledgeanaccumulatedbodyofdataorevidenceabouttheworld.Fromthispointofview,informationisastockmagnitude.Butthewordmayalsodeno
6、teanincrementtothisstockofknowledge,intheformofamessageoranitemofnews.169170InformationandInformationalDecisionsInformationversusbeliefsTermslikeknowledge,information,news,etc.,aregenerallyunderstoodtorefertoobjectiveevidenceabouttheworld.Beliefisthesubjectivecorrelateofk
7、nowledge.Inthischapterwewillbeseeinghowincrementsofobjec-tiveknowledge(newsormessages)leadrationalindividualstorevisetheirbeliefs.Ultimately,however,decisionsmustbebaseduponsubjectivebeliefs.Newsandmessage–messagesversusmessageserviceThetermmessageisgenerallytakentomeanan
8、intendedcommunicationfromonetoanotherperson.Newsissomewhatmoregeneralandmayrefertoevidenceordata
