Keywords: confirmation bias, media market, media bias
This paper develops a theoretical model where individuals with limited attention select a portfolio of news sources to learn about the true state of the world. Confirmation bias naturally arises as individuals favor sources reinforcing their prior beliefs; however, I identify conditions where they instead seek neutral or contradictory sources. This occurs among those with weak priors, for whom a mix of the contradictory source with the neutral source is optimal. The model further examines the relationship between source error and polarization, showing an inverse-U pattern. However, endogenous switching to biased sources can disrupt this pattern, influencing overall polarization dynamics.
Keywords: rational inattention, platform design, attention monetization, digital markets
Digital retail platforms act as information gatekeepers, shaping market outcomes by controlling both pricing mechanisms and the flow of information. This paper develops a theoretical model of a platform that simultaneously optimizes two revenue streams: a per-purchase transaction fee and the monetization of user attention. I model buyers as rationally inattentive agents who strategically allocate limited cognitive resources to learn about product quality.
The platform faces a fundamental trade-off: increasing the cost of information (attention price) via advertising load can boost immediate revenue and prevent buyers from rejecting low-quality items, but it may also "obfuscate" the market, deterring search and reducing transaction fee income. By deriving the platform’s optimal pricing policy across a continuum of buyers with heterogeneous outside options, this research identifies a non-trivial profit-maximizing equilibrium. Bridging Industrial Organization and Rational Inattention, the paper provides a novel framework for understanding platform market power and offers timely insights for digital regulations like the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
Reference and Severity Considerations in Sentencing: Evidence from a Czech Criminal Law Reform
Sentencing ranges are a common policy tool aimed at reducing disparities in judicial decisions by providing structured guidelines for prison sentences. However, changes to these ranges can affect sentencing behavior through different mechanisms. This paper evaluates the impact of a 2020 reform of sentencing guidelines in the Czech Republic using a difference-in-differences (DD) approach. I find that judges imposed shorter prison sentences after the reform, both on the extensive margin (fewer custodial sentences) and the intensive margin (shorter durations). This effect is observed not only in cases directly affected by revised ranges, but also in cases where the ranges remained formally unchanged but now include more serious offenses. These findings support two mechanisms of judicial behavior: the severity effect, where sentencing ranges signal offense seriousness, and the reference effect, where judges compare cases within a range. The results suggest that reforms can influence sentencing more broadly than intended. Policymakers and researchers should consider reference-based reasoning when designing sentencing policies and assessing their effects on judicial outcomes.
This paper is an extended version of my Master's thesis submitted to Charles University, Faculty of Law in September 2024 under the supervision of Michal Šoltés.
Team Composition and Productivity in Constitutional Courts: Evidence from Judge Rotation in the Czech Republic
This study examines the impact of various team characteristics on work efficiency. To identify this effect, we exploit a quasi-exogenous mechanism that assigns constitutional court judges to three-member panels. Using a newly compiled dataset of panel decisions from [years], we find that panel composition—particularly its diversity—significantly influences decision-making outcomes, such as the duration of proceedings, the success rate of proposals, and the frequency of citations. We further analyze the effects of judges’ professional background, education, age, and gender on these outcomes.
