To what extent do pivotal nonpartisan voters believe and act upon potentially deceptive messages from partisan voters who privately observe candidates’ ex-ante fitness-for-office attributes? How do nonpartisan voters’ responses to messages vary with changing odds of candidates’ ex-ante...

We experimentally analyze efficiency-enhancing power of focal points in 2x2 Pareto-ranked coordination games. We find that the power of focal labels, when attached to the Pareto-efficient strategy, to promote efficiency critically depends upon the alternative strategy’s label salience. When...