Arrow information paradox

Metadata

• Slug: 00028-arrow-information-paradox
• Type: PARADOX
• Tags: economics
• Sources: 1

Axioms

• Assume the rules of the domain apply uniformly.
• Assume the observer’s criteria remain fixed.
• Assume classification boundaries stay consistent.
• Assume the model describes the real case.
• Assume repeated steps do not change the outcome.
• Assume no hidden variables are introduced midstream.

Contradictions

• Two reasonable lines of inference yield opposite conclusions
• A global rule conflicts with a local judgment
• A stable resolution appears to violate a starting premise
• Changing the framing reverses the outcome
• Intuition and formalism diverge at the same step

Prompts

• Which assumption is doing the most hidden work?
• What changes if you relax the smallest constraint?
• Does the paradox dissolve or relocate when reframed?
• What is conserved, and what is sacrificed?

Notes

Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_information_paradox

Overview

The Arrow information paradox (information paradox for short, or AIP), and occasionally referred to as Arrow’s disclosure paradox, named after Kenneth Arrow, American economist and joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics with John Hicks, is a problem faced by companies when managing intellectual property across their boundaries. It occurs when they seek external technologies for their business or extern

Tension

• Two reasonable lines of inference yield opposite conclusions.
• A global rule conflicts with a local judgment.
• A stable resolution appears to violate a starting premise.
• Changing the framing reverses the outcome.
• Intuition and formalism diverge at the same step.

Why It Matters

This entry tests how a stable rule-set can yield unstable conclusions under certain assumptions.

Prompts

• Which assumption is doing the most hidden work?
• What changes if you relax the smallest constraint?
• Does the paradox dissolve or relocate when reframed?
• What is conserved, and what is sacrificed?