# How Big Data Dilutes Cognitive Resources, Interferes with Rational Decision-making and Affects Wealth Distribution ?

**Authors:** Yongheng Hu

arXiv: 2508.20435 · 2025-09-01

## TL;DR

This paper explores how big data impacts cognitive resources and decision-making, leading to inefficient consumption and influencing wealth distribution through a novel theoretical model and empirical analysis.

## Contribution

It introduces the Consumption Adjustment Weight Function (CAWF) and applies it within a Mean Field Game framework to analyze wealth distribution under big data influence.

## Key findings

- Lower financial friction increases average firm wealth.
- Wealth inequality exhibits a U-shaped trend with respect to the effective consumption weight.
- Optimal wealth distribution occurs when the consumption weight is around 0.5.

## Abstract

Big data has exponentially dilated consumption demand and speed, but can they all be converted to utility? We argue about the measures of consumption and utility acquisition in CRRA utility function under the condition of big data interaction, we indicate its weakness, i.e., irrational consumption does not lead to the acquisition of utility. We consider that big data, which is different from macro and micro economic signals, formed by general information entropy, affects agents' rational cognition, which makes a part of their consumption ineffective. We preliminarily propose the theory that how dilution mechanism driven by big data will affect agents' cognitive resources. Based on theoretical and empirical analysis, we construct the Consumption Adjustment Weight Function (CAWF) of agents interacting with big data and further apply it to a model of firm wealth distribution with financial frictions, we get analytical solutions according to the Mean Field Game (MFG) and find: Lower financial friction increases the average wealth of firms but also leads to greater wealth inequality. When agents convert effective consumption into utility, which is a weight of total consumption, the average wealth of firms increases with the weight increasing. Meanwhile, wealth inequality follows a U-shaped trend, and it will be the lowest level when the weight approaches to 0.5. In conclusion, we try to provide a new complementary hypothesis to refine the 'Lucas Critique' according to the cognitive resources as endowments involved in the decision-making of agents.

## Full text

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## Figures

14 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/2508.20435/full.md

## References

81 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/2508.20435/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/2508.20435