ISET officially launched its Research Seminar Series, a new academic platform aimed at fostering open discussion, intellectual exchange, and a vibrant research environment within the ISET community. The series provides a forum for faculty, students, and researchers to engage with contemporary economic research and explore emerging ideas in economics and related fields.
The inaugural seminar was delivered by Nikoloz Pkhakadze, PhD, Georgetown University, ISET resident faculty member and Head of the MA in Economics Program. He presented his research titled “Polarizing Cheap Talk”. The paper extends the canonical cheap talk model of Crawford and Sobel to show how a sender can exploit disagreements among rational receivers about a payoff-irrelevant issue to increase her own benefit. As a byproduct, rather than an inherent goal, this strategic communication can generate polarization in beliefs about the payoff-relevant state, even when all parties are fully rational.
The presentation was followed by an interactive Q&A session and a dynamic discussion, allowing participants to engage directly with the research and explore its implications. The seminar series is expected to continue throughout the academic year, contributing to the intellectual life of the ISET community and strengthening its research culture.
