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on Cognitive and Behavioural Economics |
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Issue of 2025–09–15
five papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Kragt, Marit Ellen; Sarmiento, Jon Marx; Rola-Rubzen, Maria Fay |
| Abstract: | This review synthesises applications of behavioural science approaches to farmer decision making and risk management. First, we identify key behavioural science concepts that have been found to influence the ways in which people make decisions, with illustration from the agricultural sector. These concepts include dispositional factors (e.g. risk preferences, loss and ambiguity aversion, time discounting), social factors (e.g. social norms), and cognitive factors (e.g. biases, heuristics, framing effects). Knowing how these various concepts influence attitudes towards risk helps to (a) better understand why people make decisions the way they do, and (b) design more effective risk management strategies and decision support tools. We present four behavioural science frameworks that can be used as a reference when designing behavioural interventions: the MINDSPACE framework, the EAST framework, the Behavioural Change Wheel model, and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. Key messages from these frameworks are the importance of making the desired option easy, social norms and the influence of peers, making information salient to the individual, and the role that emotions play in our decision process. The RiskWi$e project offers a unique opportunity to apply behavioural science knowledge in research design and extension to help agricultural risk management. |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Risk and Uncertainty |
| Date: | 2025–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:uwauwp:369057 |
| By: | Giovanni Di Bartolomeo (Università di Roma La Sapienza); Stefano Papa (DEF, Università di Roma "Tor Vergata"); Alessandra Pelloni (DEF, Università di Roma "Tor Vergata") |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether communication can mitigate in-group favoritism when group membership is based on a real-life trait (Italian vs. non-Italian citizenship among university students) rather than artificially induced, as in the minimal group paradigm. In our natural group setting, the identity effect is presumably stronger, making bias harder to counter. We do not find that communication significantly increases cooperation. Moreover, it does not reduce favoritism. However, the exchange of mutual promises increases cooperation and reduce in-group bias. A notable finding not found in previous studies is that gender differences also emerge: Italian males exhibit stronger in-group bias than females, whereas the opposite holds true among non-Italians. Overall, our findings confirm that not all groups are alike and that results from minimal group experiments may not always generalize to natural groups. |
| Keywords: | In-group bias, promises, exogenous variation, natural groups, gender effect |
| JEL: | A13 C91 D03 D64 D90 |
| Date: | 2025–09–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rtv:ceisrp:610 |
| By: | Daniel Montoya Herrera (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Marc Willinger (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | Based on a representative sample of the French population (n = 1, 154), we show that there is a positive association between risk tolerance and trust. We rely on, the World Value Survey WVS binary trust measure, and a '0 -10' scale that we decline in three domains: trust in general, family, and co-workers. We also vary the measure of risk tolerance, by considering an incentivized investment task, and a '0 -10' stated preference scale that we decline in three domains: risk tolerance in general, in finance, and health. These variations allow us to test 16 different relations, by crossing four dependent trust variables with four different risk tolerance covariates. After adjusting for multiple testing, we found nine combinations with a strong positive link between risk tolerance and trust in the general population, and that stated risk tolerance measures predict stated trust better than elicited risk measures. |
| Keywords: | risk-aversion, preferences, generalized trust, Behavioral economics |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05234962 |
| By: | Gagnon, Nickolas (Maastricht University); Bosmans, Kristof (Maastricht University); Riedl, Arno (Maastricht University) |
| Abstract: | We conduct an online experiment to study how the unfairness of chances leading to wage inequality affects labor supply decisions. We find that, at a given wage, disadvantageous wage inequality reduces labor supply, but whether this inequality stems from fair or unfair chances does not matter. That is, a procedure with fair chances does not compensate for wage inequality. Our results stand in stark contrast to prior empirical evidence showing that individuals care about fair chances when making equity judgments. |
| Keywords: | workplace inequality, labor supply, unfair chances |
| JEL: | D63 D90 J22 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18096 |
| By: | Thomas O. Hancock; Stephane Hess; Charisma F. Choudhury |
| Abstract: | Choice models for large-scale applications have historically relied on economic theories (e.g. utility maximisation) that establish relationships between the choices of individuals, their characteristics, and the attributes of the alternatives. In a parallel stream, choice models in cognitive psychology have focused on modelling the decision-making process, but typically in controlled scenarios. Recent research developments have attempted to bridge the modelling paradigms, with choice models that are based on psychological foundations, such as decision field theory (DFT), outperforming traditional econometric choice models for travel mode and route choice behaviour. The use of physiological data, which can provide indications about the choice-making process and mental states, opens up the opportunity to further advance the models. In particular, the use of such data to enrich 'process' parameters within a cognitive theory-driven choice model has not yet been explored. This research gap is addressed by incorporating physiological data into both econometric and DFT models for understanding decision-making in two different contexts: stated-preference responses (static) of accomodation choice and gap-acceptance decisions within a driving simulator experiment (dynamic). Results from models for the static scenarios demonstrate that both models can improve substantially through the incorporation of eye-tracking information. Results from models for the dynamic scenarios suggest that stress measurement and eye-tracking data can be linked with process parameters in DFT, resulting in larger improvements in comparison to simpler methods for incorporating this data in either DFT or econometric models. The findings provide insights into the value added by physiological data as well as the performance of different candidate modelling frameworks for integrating such data. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.18068 |