Sharing Signals: The Logic behind Senate Investigations

• In Event: Formal Models of American Politics

Abstract

When do parties iniate investigations, and when do they stay silent? I use formal theory to understand when and why Senate investigations happen, given that parties have options to share information with each other. In the model, two players want different outcomes on an issue. They can either initiate an investigation to find out the true state of the world or stay silent on the issue. Importantly, they have an option to decide whether or not to share their signals beforehand. I find that parties prefer to learn from each other despite having opposite preferences when the signals they receive are sufficiently biased. I further deduce comparative statics on conditions under which investigations take place.

Author

• Jenn (Seoyeon) Kim, University of Rochester