Do not trust people: lessons from political economy on how to counter misinformation and lies

This article argues that political economy can explain how and why information distribution and opinion formation are changing. Even more importantly, political economy offers us ways to fight the negative effects of misinformation. It is argued that asymmetry of information can explain recent developments and why poor-quality information is capable of competing with good-quality information. Subsequently, the article explains how poor-quality information influences peoples’ decisions through internal decision-making processes.

Read the full article in the December 2016 issue of the European View, the Martens Centre policy journal.