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on Cognitive and Behavioural Economics |
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Issue of 2016‒07‒09
eight papers chosen by Marco Novarese Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Akbas, Merve (Duke University); Ariely, Dan (Duke University); Robalino, David A. (World Bank); Weber, Michael (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | Partnering with a savings product provider in Kenya, we tested the extent to which behavioral interventions and financial incentives can increase the saving rate of individuals with low and irregular income. Our experiment lasted for six months and included a total of twelve conditions. The control condition received weekly reminders and balance reporting via text messages. The treatment conditions received in addition one of the following interventions: (1) reminder text messages framed as if they came from the participant's kid (2) a golden colored coin with numbers for each week of the trial, on which participants were asked to keep track of their weekly deposits (3) a match of weekly savings: The match was either 10% or 20% up to a certain amount per week. The match was either deposited at the end of each week or the highest possible match was deposited at the start of each week and was adjusted at the end. Among these interventions, by far the most effective was the coin: Those in the coin condition saved on average the highest amount and more than twice as those in the control condition. We hypothesize that being a tangible track-keeping object; the coin made subjects remember to save more often. Our results support the line of literature suggesting that saving decisions involve psychological aspects and that policy makers and product designers should take these influences into account. |
| Keywords: | savings, field experiment, behavioral economics |
| JEL: | G21 B49 D03 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10024&r=cbe |
| By: | Fehrler, Sebastian (University of Konstanz); Przepiorka, Wojtek (Utrecht University) |
| Abstract: | People benefit from being perceived as trustworthy. Examples include sellers trying to attract buyers, or candidates in elections trying to attract voters. In a laboratory experiment using exchange games, in which the trustor can choose the trustee, we study whether trustees can signal their trustworthiness by giving to charity. Our results show that donors are indeed perceived as more trustworthy and they are selected significantly more often as interaction partners. As a consequence of this sorting pattern, relative payoffs to donors and non-donors differ substantially with and without partner choice. However, we do not find donors to be significantly more trustworthy than non-donors. Our findings suggest that publicly observable generosity, such as investments in corporate social responsibility or donations to charity during a political campaign, can induce perceptions of trustworthiness and trust. |
| Keywords: | costly signaling, social preferences, trust, trustworthiness, partner choice, corporate social responsibility, electoral competition |
| JEL: | C92 H41 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9998&r=cbe |
| By: | Alem, Yonas (University of Gothenburg); Behrendt, Hannah (University of Edinburgh); Belot, Michèle (University of Edinburgh); Bíró, Anikó (University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | Behavioural attitudes towards risk and time, as well as behavioural biases such as present bias, are thought to be important drivers of unhealthy lifestyle choices. This paper makes the first attempt to explore the possibility of training the mind to alter these attitudes and biases, and health-related behaviours in particular, using a randomized controlled experiment. The training technique we consider is a well-known psychological technique called "mindfulness", which is believed to improve self-control and reduce stress. We conduct the experiment with 139 participants, half of whom receive a four-week mindfulness training, while the other half are asked to watch a four-week series of historical documentaries. We evaluate the impact of our interventions on risk-taking and inter-temporal decisions, as well as on a range of measures of health-related behaviours. We find evidence that mindfulness training reduces perceived stress, but only weak evidence on its impact on behavioural traits and health-related behaviours. Our findings have significant implications for a new domain of research on training the mind to alter behavioural traits and biases that play important roles in lifestyle. |
| Keywords: | health-related behaviours, behavioural traits, present bias, stress, experiment |
| JEL: | C81 C91 D81 I10 I12 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10019&r=cbe |
| By: | Alem, Yonas (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Eggert, Håkan (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Kocher, Martin G. (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Ruhinduka, Remidius D. (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University) |
| Abstract: | Understanding unethical behavior is essential to many phenomena in the real world. We carry out a field experiment in a unique setting that varies the levels of reciprocity and guilt in an ethical decision. A survey more than one year before the field experiment allows us to compare at the individual level stated unethical behavior with revealed behavior in the same situation in the field. Our results indicate a strong discrepancy between stated and revealed behavior, regardless of the specific treatment in the field experiment. This suggests that, given a natural setting, people may actually behave inconsistently with the way in which they otherwise “brand” themselves. Our findings raise caution about the interpretation of stated behavioral measures commonly used in research on unethical behavior. However, we show that inducing reciprocity and guilt leads to a decrease in unethical behavior |
| Keywords: | Honesty; kindness; guilt; field experiment; behavioral economics |
| JEL: | C93 D01 D03 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0664&r=cbe |
| By: | Bradler, Christiane; Neckermann, Susanne |
| Abstract: | This paper makes use of two field experiments to explore individual effort responses to gifts. We extend the literature by looking at nonfinancial gifts and gifts that combine financial and nonfinancial elements with or without adding a 'personal touch.' We find that non-pecuniary gifts that signal worker appreciation induce reciprocity. Most importantly, we find that there are interaction effects between money and appreciation. While money and appreciation are individually effective, they only work well together when they are combined with a personal touch. This points to the importance of interpersonal elements in gift giving and has important implications for how to effectively elicit worker effort. |
| Keywords: | gift exchange,reciprocity,employee performance,pro-social behavior,gratitude,personal touch,field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 M52 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:16043&r=cbe |
| By: | Shaun P. Hargreaves Heap (King's College London); Abhijit Ramalingam (University of East Anglia); Brock V. Stoddard (University of South Dakota) |
| Abstract: | We present a clean test of whether inequality in endowments affects contributions to a public good. It is a clean test because, to our knowledge, it is the first to control for possible endowment effects. We find that inequality only has an adverse effect because the rich reduce their contributions when there is inequality. |
| Keywords: | public goods, experiment, inequality, wealth, cooperation |
| JEL: | C91 C92 D31 D63 H41 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uea:wcbess:16-10&r=cbe |
| By: | Nunzia Coco (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Monica Calcagno (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Maria Lusiani (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice) |
| Abstract: | . |
| Keywords: | . |
| JEL: | M40 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:119&r=cbe |
| By: | Alem, Yonas (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Behrendtz, Hannah (Department of Economics, University of Edinburgh); Belot, Michele (Department of Economics, University of Edinburgh); Bíró, Anikó (Department of Economics, University of Edinburgh) |
| Abstract: | Behavioural attitudes toward risk and time, as well as behavioural biases such as present bias, are thought to be important drivers of unhealthy lifestyle choices. This paper makes the first attempt to explore the possibility of training the mind to alter these attitudes and biases, in particular health-related behaviours, using a randomized controlled experiment. The training technique we consider is a well-known psychological technique called "mindfulness", which is believed to improve self-control and reduce stress. We conduct the experiment with 139 participants, half of whom receive a four-week mindfulness training, while the other half are asked to watch a four-week series of historical documentaries. We evaluate the impact of our interventions on risk-taking and inter-temporal decisions, as well as on a range of measures of health-related behaviours. We find evidence that mindfulness training reduces perceived stress, but only weak evidence of its impact on behavioural traits and health-related behaviours. Our findings have significant implications for a new domain of research on training the mind to alter behavioural traits and biases that play important roles in lifestyle. |
| Keywords: | Health-related behaviours; Behavioural traits; Present Bias; Stress; Experiment. |
| JEL: | C81 C91 D81 I10 I12 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0663&r=cbe |