More or Less Data? Information Acquisition in Asymmetric Elections

Abstract

We demonstrate that a candidate competing in an asymmetric Tullock election contest may prefer that their rival candidate has access to information they themselves do not have. In the model, the extent of asymmetry between the candidates is ex-ante uncertain, but candidates can acquire information about it. We study the interaction between the incentives to acquire the information and candidates' spending and winning likelihoods. For a range of moderately close elections, an asymmetric equilibrium can arise where both candidates prefer that only the underdog candidate acquires the information. The optimal information acquisition strategy may consequently exhibit discontinuities in candidates' winning probabilities as a function of the competitiveness of the election.