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on Cognitive and Behavioural Economics |
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Issue of 2026–06–29
six papers chosen by Marco Novarese, Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale |
| By: | Binierose Cacho (University of Hawaii); Katerina Sherstyuk (University of Hawaii) |
| Abstract: | Measuring individual behavioral traits may help explain observed deviations from predicted behavior and differences among participant actions in many experimental market and auction settings. We discuss existing measures of risk and time preferences, cognitive abilities, financial literacy, regret and other emotions, overconfidence, and competitiveness. We focus on short tasks and survey items that may be used as simple add-ons to main laboratory market tasks. We further touch upon methodological issues such as monetary incentives, presentation options, repeat measurements and task timing. Finally, we catalog existing laboratory market experiments that employ behavioral measures. |
| Keywords: | auction theory, time costs, laboratory experiments |
| JEL: | C83 C91 D40 D91 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hai:wpaper:202603 |
| By: | Paul Grass; Philipp Schirmer; Malin Siemers |
| Abstract: | People often form incomplete mental models, having to revise them as new relevant variables become observable. We show experimentally that models are ‘sticky’: revised models remain strongly influenced by earlier models formed using a subset of variables. Sticky models occur across three different data-generating processes and across heterogeneous reasoning types of subjects. Guided by a simple framework of dy namic model formation, we investigate cognitive effort allocation as a key mechanism: across three DGPs, we find that stickiness is driven by subjects who exert relatively less cognitive effort during the model revision relative to the initial model formation. |
| Keywords: | mental models, learning dynamics, attention, mental representation, bounded rationality |
| JEL: | D83 D91 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_763 |
| By: | Pierpaolo Battigalli; Giovanni Di Bartolomeo; Stefano Papa |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of inequity aversion in decision-making, particularly as it relates to the opportunity cost of reducing inequality. Focusing on a simple dictator game, our results suggest that the link between such opportunity cost and sharing rates is more complex than it appears at first glance. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, inequality aversion, opportunity costs |
| JEL: | A13 C91 D01 D64 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ter:wpaper:00193 |
| By: | Robin Musolff; Christopher Roth; Florian Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | False information often shapes beliefs even after retraction or correction. Using incentivized online experiments, we document a qualitative residue in learning from false information: False quantitative signals generate little to no belief updating, whereas false stories lead to substantial residual belief impact. This effect is robust across a range of design variants. Replacing evaluative stories with more neutral variants eliminates the residue, indicating that the valence of the qualitative information plays a central role. We provide direct evidence that false stories increase mental simulation, measured via self-reports and valence extracted from speech recordings. Respondents are also more confident in beliefs formed after false stories than after false quantitative information, despite being further from the rational benchmark. Additional experiments suggest that the effect also appears among respondents who report not being influenced by the story, consistent with stories partly shaping beliefs below conscious awareness. |
| Keywords: | stories, learning, mental simulation, fake news |
| JEL: | D83 D91 C90 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12711 |
| By: | Robin Musolff; Christopher Roth; Florian Zimmermann |
| Abstract: | False information often shapes beliefs even after retraction or correction. Using incentivized online experiments, we document a qualitative residue in learning from false information: False quantitative signals generate little to no belief updating, whereas false stories lead to substantial residual belief impact. This effect is robust across a range of design variants. Replacing evaluative stories with more neutral variants eliminates the residue, indicating that the valence of the qualitative information plays a central role. We provide direct evidence that false stories increase mental simulation, measured via self-reports and valence extracted from speech recordings. Respondents are also more confident in beliefs formed after false stories than after false quantitative information, despite being further from the rational benchmark. Additional experiments suggest that the effect also appears among respondents who report not being influenced by the story, consistent with stories partly shaping beliefs below conscious awareness. |
| Keywords: | Stories, Learning, Mental Simulation, Fake News. |
| JEL: | D83 D91 C90 |
| Date: | 2026–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_757 |
| By: | Giuseppe Ciccarone; Giovanni Di Bartolomeo; Valentina Peruzzi; Maria Luigia Signore |
| Abstract: | We model creativity as capital built by costly creative effort that complements social capital and is often accompanied by routines that economize attention and time. Higher effort costs are associated with lower entry into the creative state, while openness and trust are associated with higher productivity of creative effort mainly through creative capital. Using field survey data from an Italian music festival and a recursive bivariate probit, we find that costs are negatively associated with creativity, whereas creativity is strongly associated with festival collaboration, volunteering, and territorial cooperation. Consistent with a routinization perspective, the creativity-engagement link is stronger when participation occurs in more socially structured environments. To encourage creativity, policies should reduce cognitive frictions and improve the productivity of creative effort. |
| Keywords: | Creativity, creative effort, social capital, routinization, field survey |
| JEL: | C93 C35 D01 Z13 O31 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ter:wpaper:00206 |