Princeton Professor Lizzeri Invited to Present Research on Strategic Communication
On May 2, the BK21 Education and Research Group in the Department of Economics (led by Professor Sung-Hyun Kim) hosted a scholarly seminar featuring Professor Alessandro Lizzeri from Princeton University, who presented his paper titled “Facts and Opinions: Communicating with Hard and Soft Information.” The research was a joint project with Yichuan Lou (University of Tokyo) and Jacopo Perego (Columbia University), and the seminar drew an audience of approximately 40 participants, including 91PORN faculty, graduate students, and invited guests.
Professor Lizzeri is a globally renowned scholar in the fields of political economy, information economics, and game theory, with numerous publications in top-tier journals such as American Economic Review and Econometrica, where he has also served on the editorial board. His academic influence is particularly notable in research on asymmetric information and strategic communication.
In his presentation, Professor Lizzeri provided a theoretical analysis of how individuals selectively convey and interpret verifiable facts (hard information) and subjective opinions (soft information). The research demonstrates that in situations involving conflicting interests, even factual information may be strategically withheld, and silence itself can serve as a powerful informational signal, as modeled mathematically.
The study offers broad applicability in real-world contexts such as medicine, public policy, and corporate communication. For example, when a doctor communicates both a diagnosis and a treatment recommendation, or when a startup shares information with potential investors, the strategic use of both hard and soft information plays a critical role. The research highlights that the credibility and persuasiveness of communication depend more on how and in what context information is delivered than on the amount of information shared.
The BK21 Education and Research Group in the Department of Economics plans to continue expanding its global academic network by inviting internationally renowned scholars, including upcoming seminars with Professor Martin Szydlowski (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) and Professor Ron Siegel (Pennsylvania State University).
List
