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on Evolutionary Economics |
| By: | Laura Breitkopf; Shyamal Chowdhury; Shambhavi Priyam; Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch; Matthias Sutter |
| Abstract: | We use novel data on nearly 6, 000 children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 that combine incen-tivized measures of social, time, and risk preferences with rich information on child behavior and family environment to study whether children’s economic preferences predict their behavior. Re-sults from standard regression specifications demonstrate the predictive power of children’s pref-erences for their prosociality, educational achievement, risky behaviors, emotional health, and behavioral problems. In a second step, we add information on a family’s socio-economic status, family structure, religion, parental preferences and IQ, and parenting style to capture household environment. As a result, the predictive power of preferences for behavior attenuates. We discuss implications of our findings for research on the formation of children’s preferences and behavior. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, time preferences, risk preferences, experiments with children, origins of preferences, human capital, behavior |
| JEL: | C91 D01 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10988&r=evo |
| By: | Deborah A. Cobb-Clark; Sarah C. Dahmann; Daniel A. Kamhöfer; Hannah Schildberg-Hörisch |
| Abstract: | While there is an established positive relationship between self-control and education, the direction of causality remains a matter of debate. We make a contribution to resolving this issue by exploiting a series of Australian and German educational reforms that increased minimum education requirements as a source of exogenous variation in education levels. Instrumental variables estimates suggest that, for people affected by the reforms, an additional year of schooling has no effect on self-control. |
| Keywords: | self-control; quasi-experiments; compulsory schooling reforms; Brief Self-Control Scale |
| JEL: | D90 I26 C26 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp1206&r=evo |
| By: | Fabian Dvorak; Urs Fischbacher |
| Abstract: | Despite strong evidence for peer effects, little is known about how individuals balance intrinsic preferences and social learning in different choice environments. Using a combination of experiments and discrete choice modeling, we show that intrinsic preferences and social learning jointly influence participants' decisions, but their relative importance varies across choice tasks and environments. Intrinsic preferences guide participants' decisions in a subjective choice task, while social learning determines participants' decisions in a task with an objectively correct solution. A choice environment in which people expect to be rewarded for their choices reinforces the influence of intrinsic preferences, whereas an environment in which people expect to be punished for their choices reinforces conformist social learning. We use simulations to discuss the implications of these findings for the polarization of behavior. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.18452&r=evo |
| By: | Luca Anderlini (Department of Economics, Georgetown University); Larry Samuelson (Yale University); Daniele Terlizzese (Einaudi Institute for Economics and Finance) |
| Abstract: | We examine an economy in which interactions are more productive if agents can trust others to refrain from cheating. Some agents are scoundrels, who always cheat, while others cheat only if the cost of cheating, a decreasing function of the proportion of cheaters, is sufficiently low. The economy exhibits multiple equilibria. As the proportion of scoundrels in the economy declines, the high-trust equilibrium can be disrupted by arbitrarily small perturbations or infusions of low-trust agents, while the low-trust equilibrium becomes impervious to perturbations and infusions of high-trust agents. The resilience of trust may thus hinge upon the prevalence of scoundrels. |
| Keywords: | Trust, Robustness, Fragility, Assimilation, Disruption |
| JEL: | C72 C79 D02 D80 |
| Date: | 2024–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:geo:guwopa:gueconwpa~24-24-02&r=evo |
| By: | Michalopoulos, S; Rauh, C. |
| Abstract: | Why are certain movies more successful in some markets than others? Are the entertainment products we consume reflective of our core values and beliefs? These questions drive our investigation into the relationship between a society’s oral tradition and the financial success of films. We combine a unique catalog of local tales, myths, and legends around the world with data on international movie screenings and revenues. First, we quantify the similarity between movies’ plots and traditional motifs employing machine learning techniques. Comparing the same movie across different markets, we establish that films that resonate more with local folklore systematically accrue higher revenue and are more likely to be screened. Second, we document analogous patterns within the US. Google Trends data reveal a pronounced interest in markets where ancestral narratives align more closely with a movie’s theme. Third, we delve into the explicit values transmitted by films, concentrating on the depiction of risk and gender roles. Films that promote risk-taking sell more in entrepreneurial societies today, rooted in traditions where characters pursue dangerous tasks successfully. Films portraying women in stereotypical roles continue to find a robust audience in societies with similar gender stereotypes in their folklore and where women today continue being relegated to subordinate positions. These findings underscore the enduring influence of traditional storytelling on entertainment patterns in the 21st century, highlighting a profound connection between movie consumption and deeply ingrained cultural narratives and values. |
| Keywords: | Movies, Folklore, Culture, Values, Entertainment, Text Analysis, Media |
| JEL: | N00 O10 P00 Z10 Z11 |
| Date: | 2024–03–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2412&r=evo |
| By: | Effrosyni Adamopoulou; Elisabetta Olivieri; Eleftheria Triviza |
| Abstract: | This study explores the long-run effects of a temporary scarcity of a consumption good on preferences towards that good once the shock is over. Specifically, we focus on individuals who were children during World War II and assess the consequences of the temporary drop in meat availability they experienced early in life. To this end, we combine new hand-collected historical data on the number of livestock at the local level with microdata on eating habits, health outcomes, and food consumption expenditures. By exploiting cohort and regional variation in a difference-in-differences estimation, we show that individuals who as children were more exposed to meat scarcity tend to consume relatively more meat and spend more on food during late adulthood. Consistent with medical studies on the side effects of meat overconsumption, we also find that these individuals have a higher probability of being obese, having poor self-perceived health, and developing cancer. The effects are larger for women and persist intergenerationally, as the adult children of mothers who experienced meat scarcity similarly tend to overconsume meat. Our results point towards a behavioral channel, where early-life shocks shape eating habits, food consumption, and adult health. |
| Keywords: | preferences, food consumption, early life experiences, gender differences |
| JEL: | D12 I10 N44 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2021_276v2&r=evo |