  Traditional economic models typically treat private information, or signals,
as generated from some underlying state. Recent work has explicated alternative
models, where signals correspond to interpretations of available information.
We show that the difference between these formulations can be sharply cast in
terms of causal dependence structure, and employ graphical models to illustrate
the distinguishing characteristics. The graphical representation supports
inferences about signal patterns in the interpreted framework, and suggests how
results based on the generated model can be extended to more general
situations. Specific insights about bidding games in classical auction
mechanisms derive from qualitative graphical models.
