FBK-IRVAPP Seminar: Mattie Toma (University of Warwick)

Title: Numbers Tell, Words Sell

Abstract: When communicating numeric estimates, experts often choose between using numbers or natural language. We run two experiments to analyze whether experts strategically use language to persuade. In Study 1, senders in the general public communicate probabilities of abstract events to receivers; in Study 2, academic researchers communicate findings from research papers to policymakers. Incentives to persuade increase the likelihood of using language rather than numbers by 25–29 percentage points, and receivers are effectively persuaded. Experts slant language more than numbers, particularly when they prefer language. Our findings suggest that experts leverage the imprecision of language to excuse communicating slanted messages.

Speaker: Mattie is an Associate Professor in the Behavioural Science Group at the University of Warwick and an Invited Researcher at J-PAL. She received her PhD from Harvard University in 2022. Mattie's research uses tools from behavioral and experimental economics to address policy-relevant questions, including improving policymaker decision-making and identifying effective global health interventions. 

Venue: The seminar will be held on the Google Meet web conferencing platform. For this seminar, 5 seats in person have been allocated (subject to availability). Please register for the event via Eventbrite, indicating whether you will be attending online or in person. For those who have registered to attend in person, please arrive in Vicolo dalla Piccola, 12 - 38122 Trento TN - Italy, 5-10 minutes before the start of the event.

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