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Talking Economics: Polarization, Policy, and Structural Challenges

19 May, 2025

In the latest episode of Talking Economics, we speak with Vladimír Novák, Senior Economist at the National Bank of Slovakia and CERGE-EI PhD alumnus, about his recent research and how it connects to real-world policy challenges. 

Vladimír’s academic work focuses on how individuals process information and how that, in turn, shapes their beliefs, choices, and societal outcomes. His recent paper, published in the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, introduces a novel mechanism for understanding belief polarization, even among rational individuals.

At the heart of his research is the idea that even rational, inattentive individuals can become polarized—not because of cognitive biases like confirmation bias, but due to how they value the status quo and how limited attention shapes the information they choose to seek: "We show that people’s evaluation of the current situation determines what kind of information they seek. This leads to systematically different beliefs about the same policy, even among individuals with similar expectations."

This mechanism leads to polarization ex-ante: people diverge in opinion not because they are exposed to different news sources, but because they seek different information based on their personal status quo: "The polarization happens even if people interpret the information correctly. It’s not about misinterpretation. It’s about what you choose to pay attention to."

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