Evidence and skepticism in verifiable disclosure games
2025-11-17
A key feature of communication with evidence is skepticism: a receiver will attribute any incomplete disclosure to the sender concealing unfavorable evidence. I study when a change in the receiver"s prior belief about the sender's evidence induces more skepticism, i.e., induces the receiver, regardless of his preferences, to take an equilibrium action that is less favorable for the sender following every message. I provide a definition of when one receiver's prior belief expects more evidence than another and show that this characterizes more skepticism. As an input, I fully characterize receiver optimal equilibrium outcomes in general verifiable disclosure games.