Nonmarket Strategies in Election Issues: a Theoretical Framework Based on Information and Reputation Cascades

Interest groups sometimes seek to attract broad public attention to their issues as a means to influence public policy decisions by political actors. How can business firms compete against this strategy? The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework to analyze the potential impact of nonmarket strategies on the formation of public opinion. To do so, we use recent developments in economic theory explaining conformity in individuals’ behaviors through the concepts of information and reputation cascades. This sheds some light on how the private preference of individual voters, as well as experts and reporters, may be manipulated to incite them to express public opinions consistent with the interests of firms or of interest groups.