Renegotiation-Proof Cheap Talk

An informed Advisor and an uninformed Decision-Maker, with conflicting interests, engage in repeated cheap talk communication in always new decision problems. While the Decision-Maker’s optimal payoff is attainable in some subgame-perfect equilibrium, no payoff profile close to the Decision-Maker’s optimal one is immune to renegotiation. Pareto efficient renegotiation-proof equilibria entail a compromise between the Advisor and the Decision-Maker. This could involve the Advisor being truthful and the Decision-Maker not fully utilizing this information to their advantage, or the Advisor exaggerating the truth and the Decision-Maker pretending to believe them.