|
on Experimental Economics |
|
Issue of 2021‒12‒13
28 papers chosen by |
| By: | Zvonimir Bašic; Parampreet Christopher Bindra; Daniela Glätzle-Rützler; Angelo Romano; Matthias Sutter; Claudia Zoller |
| Abstract: | We study the development of cooperation in 929 young children, aged 3 to 6. In a unified experimental framework, we examine pre-registered hypotheses about which of three fundamental pillars of human cooperation – direct and indirect reciprocity, and third-party punishment – emerges earliest as a means to increase cooperation in a repeated prisoner’s dilemma game. We find that third-party punishment doubles cooperation rates in comparison to a control condition. Children also reciprocate others’ behavior, yet direct and indirect reciprocity do not increase overall cooperation rates. We also examine the influence of children’s cognitive skills and parents’ socioeconomic background on cooperation. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, reciprocity, third-party punishment, reputation, children, parents, cognitive abilities, socioeconomic status, prisoner’s dilemma game, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 C93 D01 D91 H41 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9404&r= |
| By: | Iván Barreda-Tarrazona (LEE and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Ainhoa Jaramillo-Gutiérrez (LEE and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain); Marina Pavan (LEE & Economics Department, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón-Spain); Gerardo Sabater-Grande (LEE and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | We design a rich setting to study cooperation in the finitely Repeated Prisoners’ Dilemma (RPD), controlling for beliefs, emotions, and personal characteristics. In the baseline, the subjects play one-shot and repeated games with other human subjects. In the treatment, participants play against an artificial intelligence (AI) trained upon data from the previous “all human” sessions to mimic human decisions. We design the experiment so that our sessions are homogeneous in terms of gender composition, altruism, and reasoning ability. In all games, we elicit players’ beliefs regarding cooperation using an incentive compatible method. Besides, after each individual decision, we collect self-reported information on the main reason for it (rational or emotional). We find that expectations of partner cooperation at the beginning of each task are not significantly different between treatments. Despite this, we observe that initial human cooperation is actually much higher with other humans than with an AI. Cooperation continues to be higher in all periods of the RPD tasks: cooperation rates range between 60% and 80% in the baseline, while they range between 20% and 40% in the AI treatment. Last, decisions appear to be less emotion-driven in the AI treatment. Lack of empathy with, rather than fear of, the machine seems to be driving the results. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, prisoner’s dilemma, artificial intelligence, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 C73 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2021/10&r= |
| By: | Ximeng Fang; Lorenz Goette; Bettina Rockenbach; Matthias Sutter; Verena Tiefenbeck; Samuel Schoeb; Thorsten Staake |
| Abstract: | Behavioral policy often aims at overcoming barriers like imperfect information and limited attention that contribute to suboptimal consumer decisions. When multiple barriers are present, a single intervention that does not overcome all barriers simultaneously may fail to unfold its full potential. We conduct a three-month randomized field experiment on energy conservation in a resource-intensive everyday activity, using two different interventions. Home energy reports fail to reduce energy use despite achieving significant knowledge gains; real-time feedback induces considerable conservation effects. Strikingly, combining both interventions boosts these effects by over 50%. This showcases how barrier multiplicity can generate complementarities in behavioral interventions. |
| Keywords: | behavioral interventions, energy conservation, inattention, real-time feedback, home energy reports, policy interactions, randomized controlled trials |
| JEL: | D12 D83 Q41 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2021_149v2&r= |
| By: | Ximeng Fang; Lorenz Goette; Bettina Rockenbach; Matthias Sutter; Verena Tiefenbeck; Samuel Schoeb; Thorsten Staake |
| Abstract: | Behavioral policy often aims at overcoming barriers like imperfect information and limited attention that contribute to suboptimal consumer decisions. When multiple barriers are present, a single intervention that does not overcome all barriers simultaneously may fail to unfold its full potential. We conduct a three-month randomized field experiment on energy conservation in a resource-intensive everyday activity, using two different interventions. Home energy reports fail to reduce energy use despite achieving significant knowledge gains; real-time feedback induces considerable conservation effects. Strikingly, combining both interventions boosts these effects by over 50%. This showcases how barrier multiplicity can generate complementarities in behavioral interventions. |
| Keywords: | behavioral interventions, energy conservation, inattention, real-time feedback, home energy reports, policy interactions, randomized controlled trials |
| JEL: | D12 D83 Q41 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2020_149v1&r= |
| By: | Koffi Serge William Yao (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UMR 5211 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the standard version of the approval mechanism with two players in a common pool resource (CPR) extraction game. In the case of disapproval, the Nash extraction level is implemented. The paper investigates, experimentally, the extent to which the Nash threat leads to Pareto-improving extraction levels. Through our experiment, we confirm the effectiveness of the Nash threat in reducing CPR over-extraction. Although participants' behavior is mainly explained by rational thinking, inequity in payoff can also motivate their behavior. Moreover, we show that there is neither an order effect nor a framing effect. Finally, the reduction persists when the Nash threat is no longer in place. |
| Keywords: | laboratory group behavior,common pool resource,approval mechanism |
| Date: | 2021–10–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03418905&r= |
| By: | Laure Kuhfuss (The James Hutton Institute); Raphaële Préget (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UMR 5211 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Sophie Thoyer (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - UMR 5211 - UM - Université de Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Montpellier SupAgro - Institut national d’études supérieures agronomiques de Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Frans de Vries (University of Stirling); Nick Hanley (University of St Andrews [Scotland]) |
| Abstract: | he environmental benefits from Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes can often be enhanced if private land managers are induced to enrol land in a spatially coordinated manner. One incentive mechanism which has been proposed to achieve such spatial coordination is the agglomeration bonus, a two-part payment scheme which offers a pecuniary (financial) reward for decisions that lead to greater spatial coordination of enrolled land. However, farmers respond to a range of motives when deciding whether to participate in such schemes, including non-pecuniary motives such as a concern for the environment or social comparisons. This study implements a de-contextualised laboratory experiment to test the effectiveness of the agglomeration bonus when non-pecuniary motives are explicitly incorporated into the decision-making environment. We capture intrinsic preferences for the public good dimension of environmental improvement through a real donation to environmental charities and examine the relative impact of a group-ranking nudge. The experimental results show that the agglomeration bonus does indeed improve participation and spatial coordination when non-pecuniary motives are accounted for, but that its performance is not enhanced by the nudge. |
| Keywords: | Agglomeration Bonus,Coordination Games,Environmental Preferences,Laboratory Experiments,Social Comparison,Nudge,spatial Coordination |
| Date: | 2022–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03435954&r= |
| By: | Michael Kurschilgen (Technical University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) |
| Abstract: | How does moral awareness affect people's fairness judgments? Models of identity utility predict that if individuals differ in their personal fairness ideals (equality versus effciency), higher moral awareness should not only make people's choices less selfish but also more polarized. On the other hand, people's desire for conforming with the behavior of their peers should help mitigate polarization. I test these conjectures in a laboratory experiment, in which participants can pursue different fairness ideals. I exogenously vary (i) whether participants are prompted to state their moral opinions behind the veil of ignorance, and (ii) whether they are informed about the behavior of their peers. I find that moral introspection makes choices more polarized, reflecting even more divergent moral opinions. The increase in polarization coincides largely with a widening of revealed gender differences as introspection makes men's choices more welfarist and women's more egalitarian. Disclosing the descriptive norm of the situation is not capable of mitigating the polarization. |
| Keywords: | Moral Introspection; Social Information; Identity; Normative Ambivalence; Equality; Efficiency; Polarization; Experiment. |
| JEL: | C91 D63 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aiw:wpaper:17&r= |
| By: | Batista, Catia (Nova School of Business and Economics); McKenzie, David (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | We test different classic migration theories by using incentivized laboratory experiments to investigate how potential migrants decide between working in different destinations. We test theories of income maximization, skill-selection, and multi-destination choice as we vary migration costs, liquidity constraints, risk, social benefits, and incomplete information. The standard income maximization model leads to a much higher migration rate and more negative skill-selection than occurs when migration decisions take place under more realistic assumptions. The independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption mostly holds when decisions just involve wages, costs, and liquidity constraints, but breaks down once we add risk and incomplete information. |
| Keywords: | migrant selection, destination choice, lab experiment, IIA |
| JEL: | F22 O15 C91 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14717&r= |
| By: | Carlsson, Fredrik (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Ek, Claes (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Lange, Andreas (University of Hamburg) |
| Abstract: | We report experimental evidence on the voluntary provision of public goods under threshold uncertainty. By explicitly comparing two prominent technologies, summation and weakest link, we show that uncertainty is particularly detrimental to threshold attainment under weakest link, where low contributions by one subject cannot be compensated by others. In contrast, threshold uncertainty does not affect contributions under summation. We demonstrate non-binding pledges as one mechanism to improve chances of threshold attainment under both technologies, yet in particular under weakest link. |
| Keywords: | public goods; threshold uncertainty; weakest link; coordination; experiment |
| JEL: | C91 H41 Q54 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0813&r= |
| By: | Nathalie Lazaric (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) - COMUE UCA - COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur); Mira Toumi (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (... - 2019) - COMUE UCA - COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the complementarity among different treatments which involved "boosts" (provision of information) and "goals" (ambitious or modest goals) by means of a field experiment conducted in the Principality of Monaco between December 2018 and May 2019. We collected data from 77 households in four groups: ambitious electricity reduction goal combined with information (Treatment 1), modest electricity reduction goal combined with information (Treatment 2), only information (Treatment 3), and a control group (CG). Treatments 1 and 2 increased the chances of reduced electricity consumption. We show that a modest, more realistic electricity saving goal when combined with a "boost" generates better electricity conservation performance (T2). We explore the link between behavioral strategies and the household's concern for the environment in the context of the new ecological paradigm (NEP). Our results show that treatments T1 and T2 are efficient for reducing electricity consumption only in households with high levels of environmental concern; those whose level of concern about the environment is low will not respond to any of the behavioral interventions. We provide some recommendations for the implementation of behavioral tools and "boosts". |
| Keywords: | Boost,nudges,goal setting,electricity consumption,field experiment,environmental profile |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03402212&r= |
| By: | Anastasios Koukoumelis (Department of Economics, University of Bath); Maria Vittoria Levati (Department of Economics (University of Verona)); Chiara Nardi (Department of Economics (University of Verona)) |
| Abstract: | Many socially desirable actions are subject to risk and occur in situations where the others are not anonymous. Assessing whether lower subject-subject anonymity affects behavior when outcomes are risky is likely important but has not been studied in depth so far. Herein, we provide evidence on this issue. In a series of allocation tasks, all of them variations of the dictator game, we systematically vary the party who is exposed to risk and manipulate recipient anonymity by reducing the social and/or moral distance between the two parties. We propose a model that extends previous work by allowing not only for ex ante and ex post fairness but also for altruism. The model is consistent with observed behavior. In particular, a reduction in social and moral distance significantly increases the likelihood of equal split and more than equal split choices. |
| Keywords: | Risk; Fairness; Altruism; Anonymity; Experiment |
| JEL: | C90 D63 D64 D81 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ver:wpaper:13/2021&r= |
| By: | Menkveld, Albert J.; Dreber, Anna; Holzmeister, Felix; Huber, Jürgen; Johannesson, Magnus; Kirchler, Michael; Neusüss, Sebastian; Razen, Michael; Weitzel, Utz |
| Abstract: | In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a datagenerating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in sample estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidencegenerating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: non-standard errors. To study them, we let 164 teams test six hypotheses on the same sample. We find that non-standard errors are sizeable, on par with standard errors. Their size (i) co-varies only weakly with team merits, reproducibility, or peer rating, (ii) declines significantly after peer-feedback, and (iii) is underestimated by participants. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:112021&r= |
| By: | Felix Chopra; Ingar K. Haaland; Christopher Roth |
| Abstract: | In a large-scale online experiment with U.S. Democrats, we examine how the demand for a newsletter about an economic relief plan changes when the newsletter content is fact-checked. We first document an overall muted demand for fact-checking when the newsletter features stories from an ideologically aligned source, even though fact-checking increases the perceived accuracy of the newsletter. The average impact of fact-checking masks substantial heterogeneity by ideology: fact-checking reduces demand among Democrats with strong ideological views and increases demand among ideologically moderate Democrats. Furthermore, fact-checking increases demand among all Democrats when the newsletter features stories from an ideologically non-aligned source. |
| Keywords: | fact-checking, news demand, information, media bias, belief polarization |
| JEL: | D83 D91 L82 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9405&r= |
| By: | Adema, Joop (University of Munich); Nikolka, Till (German Youth Institute (DJI)); Poutvaara, Panu (University of Munich); Sunde, Uwe (University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | We exploit the unique design of a repeated survey experiment among students in four countries to explore the stability of risk preferences in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Relative to a baseline before the pandemic, we find that self-assessed willingness to take risks decreased while the willingness to take risks in an incentivized lottery task increased, for the same sample of respondents. These findings suggest domain specificity of preferences that is partly reflected in the different measures. |
| Keywords: | stability of risk preferences, measurement of risk aversion, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | D12 D91 G50 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14755&r= |
| By: | Athey, Susan (Stanford University); Bergstrom, Katy (World Bank); Hadad, Vitor (Stanford University); Jamison, Julian C. (University of Exeter); Ozler, Berk (World Bank); Parisotto, Luca (World Bank); Sama, Julius Dohbit |
| Abstract: | Long-acting reversible contraceptives are highly effective in preventing unintended pregnancies, but take-up remains low. This paper analyzes a randomized controlled trial of interventions addressing two barriers to long-acting reversible contraceptive adoption, credit, and informational constraints. The study offered discounts to the clients of a women’s hospital in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and cross-randomized a counseling strategy that encourages shared decision-making using a tablet-based app that ranks modern methods. Discounts increased uptake by 50 percent, with larger effects for adolescents. Shared decision-making tripled the share of clients adopting a long-acting reversible contraceptive at full price, from 11 to 35 percent, and discounts had no incremental impact in this group |
| JEL: | C13 C93 D91 I12 I15 J13 O12 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3987&r= |
| By: | Li, Wenhui; Ockenfels, Peter; Wilde, Christian |
| Abstract: | This paper sets up an experimental asset market in the laboratory to investigate the effects of ambiguity on price formation and trading behavior in financial markets. The obtained trading data is used to analyze the effect of ambiguity on various market outcomes (the price level, volatility, trading activity, market liquidity, and the degree of speculative trading) and to test the quality of popular empirical market-based measures for the degree of ambiguity. We find that ambiguity decreases market prices and trading activity; ambiguity leads to lower market liquidity through wider bid-ask spreads; and ambiguity leads to less speculative trading. We also find that popular market-based measures of ambiguity used in the empirical literature do not seem to correctly capture the true degree of ambiguity. |
| Keywords: | ambiguity,financial market,market price,volatility,trading activity,bidask spread,market-based measure of ambiguity,laboratory experiment |
| JEL: | D81 G10 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:326&r= |
| By: | Alan, Sule (University of Essex); Corekcioglu, Gozde (Kadir Has University); Sutter, Matthias (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate the impact of a program aiming at improving the workplace climate in corporations. The program is implemented via a clustered randomized design and evaluated with respect to the prevalence of support networks, antisocial behavior, perceived relational atmosphere, and turnover rate. We find that professionals in treated corporations are less inclined to engage in toxic competition, exhibit higher reciprocity toward each other, report higher workplace satisfaction and a more collegial atmosphere. Treated firms have fewer socially isolated individuals and a lower employee turnover. The program's success in improving leader-subordinate relationships emerges as a likely mechanism to explain these results. |
| Keywords: | workplace climate, relational dynamics, leadership quality, RCT |
| JEL: | C93 M14 M53 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14726&r= |
| By: | Michela Chessa; Nobuyuki Hanaki; Aymeric Lardon; Takashi Yamada |
| Abstract: | In this paper we experimentally compare three implementations of Winter demand commitment bargaining mechanism: a one-period implementation, a two-period implementation with low and with high delay costs. Despite the different theoretical predictions, our results show that the three different implementations result in similar outcomes in all our domains of investigation, namely: coalition formation, alignment with the Shapley value prediction and axioms satisfaction. Our results suggest that a lighter bargaining implementation with only one period is often sufficient in providing allocations that sustain the Shapley value as appropriate cooperative solution concept, while saving unnecessary costs in terms of time and resources. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1152&r= |
| By: | Athey, Susan (Stanford University); Bickel, Peter J. (University of California, Berkeley); Chen, Aiyou (Google LLC); Imbens, Guido W. (Stanford University); Pollmann, Michael (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | We develop new semiparametric methods for estimating treatment effects. We focus on a setting where the outcome distributions may be thick tailed, where treatment effects are small, where sample sizes are large and where assignment is completely random. This setting is of particular interest in recent experimentation in tech companies. We propose using parametric models for the treatment effects, as opposed to parametric models for the full outcome distributions. This leads to semiparametric models for the outcome distributions. We derive the semiparametric efficiency bound for this setting, and propose efficient estimators. In the case with a constant treatment effect one of the proposed estimators has an interesting interpretation as a weighted average of quantile treatment effects, with the weights proportional to (minus) the second derivative of the log of the density of the potential outcomes. Our analysis also results in an extension of Huber’s model and trimmed mean to include asymmetry and a simplified condition on linear combinations of order statistics, which may be of independent interest. |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3986&r= |
| By: | Nobuyuki Hanaki; Yutaka Kayaba; Jun Maekawa; Hitoshi Matsushima |
| Abstract: | We experimentally examine the impact of a cycle path on the trading of a copyable information good in networks. A cycle path in a network permits a buyer to become a reseller that can compete against existing sellers by replicating the good. Theory predicts that the price of the information good, even with the first transaction where there is not yet a reseller competing with the original seller, will be lower in networks with a cycle path than otherwise. However, our experiment reveals that the observed price for the first transaction is significantly higher in networks with a cycle path. |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1151&r= |
| By: | Chadi, Adrian (University of Konstanz); Hoffmann, Manuel (Texas A&M University) |
| Abstract: | Watching television is the most time-consuming human activity besides work but its role for individual well-being is unclear. Negative consequences portrayed in the literature raise the question whether this popular pastime constitutes an economic good or bad, and hence serves as a prime example of irrational behavior reducing individual health and happiness. Using rich panel data, we are the first to comprehensively address this question by exploiting a large-scale natural experiment in West Germany, where people in geographically restricted areas received commercial TV via terrestrial frequencies. Contrary to previous research, we find no health impact when TV consumption increases. For life satisfaction, we even find positive effects. Additional analyses support the notion that TV is not an economic bad and that non-experimental evidence seems to be driven by negative self-selection. |
| Keywords: | health, happiness, well-being, natural experiment, television consumption, time-use, entertainment, CSPT, ArcGIS, mass media |
| JEL: | C26 D12 I31 H12 J22 L82 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14721&r= |
| By: | Albert J. Menkveld; Anna Dreber; Felix Holzmeister; Juergen Huber; Magnus Johannesson; Michael Kirchler; Sebastian Neussüs; Michael Razen; Utz Weitzel; Christian T. Brownlees; Javier Gil-Bazo; et al. |
| Abstract: | In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in sample estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is generated to test hypotheses in an evidence-generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: non-standard errors. To study them, we let 164 teams test six hypotheses on the same sample. We find that non-standard errors are sizeable, on par with standard errors. Their size (i) co-varies only weakly with team merits, reproducibility, or peer rating, (ii) declines significantly after peer-feedback, and (iii) is underestimated by participants. |
| Keywords: | non-standard errors, multi-analyst approach, liquidity |
| JEL: | C12 C18 G1 G14 |
| Date: | 2021–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1807&r= |
| By: | Kyle Hampton (Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage); Paul Johnson (Department of Economics, University of Alaska Anchorage) |
| Abstract: | The authors present Kaivik, a free online asset auction classroom experiment platform that works with cellphones. Students use cellphones to trade units of a financial asset (shares in a single company) by submitting bid and ask prices plus the number of asset units they are offering to buy or sell per transaction. In this “order book†system the liquidity of the asset market at any point in time is variable. Trading can generate asset market bubbles. Instructors set key experiment parameters. Results are recorded and can be presented on a screen for discussion. Students are given an experiment report template to complete. |
| Keywords: | Economic Education and Teaching of Economics, Portfolio Choice, Investment Decisions, Financial Bubbles, Asset Markets, Information and Market Efficiency |
| JEL: | A2 G22 G17 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ala:wpaper:2021-04&r= |
| By: | Phu Nguyen Van; Thierry Blayac; Dimitri Dubois; Sebastien Duchene; Marc Willinger; Bruno Ventelou |
| Abstract: | In the need to assess anti-COVID-19 policies in terms of public acceptability, we report the key results of a Discrete Choice Experiment based on a representative sample of the French population. Preference-ranking analysis is performed for the whole population and by subgroups. Results show that wearing masks, transport limitations, and digital-tracking are well accepted. However, restaurant closures and excessive leisure travel restrictions are not. The acceptability depends on personal characteristics: political orientation, health vulnerability, or age. The young population differs from others, in terms of policies preferences and in their claim for monetary compensation, suggesting a tailored policy for them. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19, policy design, discrete choice experiment, individual preferences, acceptability |
| JEL: | C90 D90 I18 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2021-33&r= |
| By: | Alessandra Casella (Columbia University [New York]); Antonin Macé (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Voters have strong incentives to increase their influence by trading votes, acquiring others' votes when preferences are strong in exchange for giving votes away when preferences are weak. But is vote trading welfare-improving or welfare-decreasing? For a practice long believed to be central to collective decisions, the lack of a clear answer is surprising. We review the theoretical literature and, when available, its related experimental tests. We begin with the analysis of logrolling - the exchange of votes for votes. We then focus on vote markets, where votes can be traded against a numeraire. We conclude with procedures allowing voters to shift votes across decisions - to trade votes with oneself only. We find that vote trading and vote markets are typically inefficient; more encouraging results are obtained by allowing voters to allocate votes across decisions. |
| Keywords: | bundling,quadratic voting,vote trading,storable votes,logrolling,Vote markets,Storable votes,Vote trading,Logrolling,Quadratic voting,Bundling,vote markets |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-02922012&r= |
| By: | Halevy, Nir (Stanford University); Maoz, Ifat (Hebrew University of Jerusalem); Vani, Preeti (Stanford University); Reit, Emily (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | Whom do individuals blame for intergroup conflict? Do people attribute responsibility for intergroup conflict to the in-group or the out-group? Theoretically integrating the literatures on intergroup relations, moral psychology, and judgment and decision-making, we propose that unpacking a group to its constituent subgroups increases perceived support for the view that the unpacked group shoulders more of the blame for intergroup conflict. Five preregistered experiments (N=3,335 adults) found support for this novel hypothesis across three distinct intergroup conflicts: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, current racial tensions between White people and Black people in the U.S., and the gender gap in wages in the U.S. Our findings highlight the independent roles that entrenched social identities and cognitive presentation-based processes play in shaping blame judgments, demonstrate that the effect of unpacking groups generalizes across partisans and nonpartisans, and illustrate how constructing packed versus unpacked sets of potential perpetrators can critically shape where the blame lies. |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3993&r= |
| By: | Christine Jaushyuam Lai-Bennejean (emlyon business school); Lauren Beitelspacher; Christine Lai-Bennejean |
| Abstract: | This article investigates an under-researched area, the impact of causal attributions (i.e., causal stability and company-related/-unrelated attributions) on salespeople's job satisfaction following their performance appraisal. A pretest and a between-subjects experimental study test the effect of accurate or biased perceptions of causal attributions on salespeople's job satisfaction. Data collected from 209 salespeople provide evidence that they make perceptual attribution errors in their appraisals of the performance outcome they achieve or do not achieve. When salespeople correctly attribute their performance, causal stability affects their job satisfaction. However, company-related attributions affect their satisfaction only in the case of a poor performance outcome. As expected, salespeople who make biased attributions experience misattributed or "unwarranted" satisfaction or dissatisfaction, a higher or lower satisfaction level than they would have experienced had they made proper causal attributions. Using Weiner's theory of emotion and motivation as a theoretical framework, this research confirms that cognitive appraisals of event outcomes (in this case performance reviews) impacts salespeople's emotional experience. Furthermore, causal ascriptions following the salesperson's performance appraisal affect job satisfaction. This study discusses how managers can ensure continued satisfaction of their salespeople, which constitutes a stable source of motivation, by understanding their performance attributions. This research introduces a new concept of misattributed job satisfaction or dissatisfaction. While anecdotally some scholars have investigated when salespeople play "the blame game," this research shows how salespeople correctly or incorrectly ascribe blame for the outcomes and the impact on job satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | Experimental study,sales force management,Job satisfaction,attribution theory,Sales,Sales performance,Sales force,causal attribution Sales force management,Causal stability,Company-related attribution |
| Date: | 2020–07–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02902741&r= |
| By: | Narang, Unnati (Stanford University) |
| Abstract: | In this study, we causally examine complementarity in usage across a set of related soft- ware products from a multi-product firm. Digital contexts are characterized by little price variation, bundled pricing plans, and infrequent purchase or subscription renewal decisions. In these settings, computing typical cross-price elasticity measures for complementarities is often infeasible. We employ a novel experimental approach to causally identify complementarities, leveraging rich usage data and advertising experiments that affect usage of one product at a time. Though this approach, we directly measure complementarities based on usage rather than purchase. We test our approach using data from a software company with a suite of related products, and find evidence for varying degrees of complementarity between products in the suite. We also explore variation in these effects across user populations, finding that they vary across both product and consumer segments. We show that accounting for complementarity significantly affects the measurement of ad effective- ness. We also document the impact of our estimates on ad targeting decisions by the firm. Ours is one of the first studies to causally examine complementarity and substitutability between products in this context of subscription products, and our identification strategy has application in a variety of contexts. |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:3975&r= |