Political Polarisation – A Game-Theoretic Perspective | with Adam Meirowitz
About this episode
The episode explores how game theory informs our understanding of political polarisation and electoral dynamics.
In this episode, we discuss how game theory sheds light on modern electoral competition. Our guest, Adam Meirowitz, introduces the classical model of candidate convergence and explains why real elections often depart from this prediction. We then explore the role of echo chambers and selective exposure, and why these surprisingly do not necessarily lead to greater polarisation. We also touch on how bounded rationality among voters can further impact these dynamics. Adam Meirowitz is the Damon Wells Professor of Political Science with a courtesy appointment in Economics at Yale University. His referenced research paper on echo chambers "Selective Exposure and Electoral Competition" is published in the Journal of Politics (2025) and is joint work with Avidit Acharya, Peter Buisseret, and Floyd Zhang. You can find it here .
People in this episode
Guest: Adam Meirowitz
Topics covered
- game theory
- political science
- electoral competition
- polarisation
- bounded rationality
- echo chambers
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Yale University, Journal of Politics
Books & works: Selective Exposure and Electoral Competition
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