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on Experimental Economics |
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Issue of 2023‒10‒09
34 papers chosen by |
| By: | Luigi Mittone; Mauro Papi |
| Abstract: | Despite its importance, relatively little attention has been devoted to studying the effects of exposing individuals to digital choice interfaces. In two pre-registered lottery-choice experiments, we administer three information-search technologies that are based on well-known heuristics: in the ABS (alternative-based search) treatment, subjects explore outcomes and corresponding probabilities within lotteries; in the CBS (characteristic-based search) treatment, subjects explore outcomes and corresponding probabilities across lotteries; in the Baseline treatment, subjects view outcomes and corresponding probabilities all at once. We find that (i) when lottery outcomes comprise gains and losses (experiment 1), exposing subjects to the CBS technology systematically makes them choose safer lotteries, compared to the subjects that are exposed to the other technologies, and (ii) when lottery outcomes comprise gains only (experiment 2), the above results are reversed: exposing subjects to the CBS technology systematically makes them choose riskier lotteries. By combining the information-search and choice analysis, we offer an interpretation of our results that is based on prospect theory, whereby the information-search technology subjects are exposed to contributes to determine the level of attention that the lottery attributes receive, which in turn has an effect on the reference point. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.01495&r=exp |
| By: | Caliari, Daniele; Soraperra, Ivan |
| Abstract: | Are opportunities making thieves? Accumulated experimental evidence shows that, when people have the opportunity to cheat, often they take it. Most of the literature on cheating opportunities forces people into a tempting situation where they face a trade-off between money and morality. In our paper, we ask whether people are sophisticated in their cheating behavior and whether they search for or avoid these trade-offs. Overall, participants in the experiment exhibit very little temptation, i.e., virtually no one is willing to pay a cost to avoid the possibility of misreporting in a coin-flip-like task, and they are able to consistently stick to their plan. Participants with a strict preference for the tempting situation, i.e., who are planning to cheat, show a winning rate of about 95% and those that are indifferent between having and not having the opportunity, i.e., who are planning to be honest, show a winning rate that is close to 50%. |
| Keywords: | temptation and self-control, cheating, unethical behavior, lab experiment |
| JEL: | B41 C91 C93 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbmbh:spii2023205&r=exp |
| By: | Andreas G. B. Ziegler (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Governments, central banks, and private organizations frequently face the challenge of convincing their audience to take a specific action. One key choice is whether to send a public message that can coordinate the audience’s actions or to rely instead on private messages that may differ across audience members and thereby miscoordinate actions. This paper uses a laboratory experiment to test whether public or private messages are more persuasive and how this depends on the audience’s strategic environment. In the experiment, public signals are most persuasive. The results match the theoretical prediction that public persuasion works best when the receivers’ strategic environment features strategic complements. However, contrary to theory, public signals are equally persuasive as private ones under strategic substitutes. Senders respond to this pattern by engaging more frequently in public communication, especially when the receivers’ environment features strategic complements. |
| Keywords: | information design, Bayesian persuasion, laboratory experiment, Bayes correlated equilibria, obedience, recommendations |
| JEL: | D83 D82 C92 |
| Date: | 2023–08–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230048&r=exp |
| By: | Gary Charness (Department of Economics, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA); Yves Le Bihan (Institut Français du Leadership Positif. 4 place Amédée Bonnet 69002 Lyon, France); Marie Claire Villeval (Univ Lyon, CNRS, GATE UMR 5824, F-69130 Ecully, France; IZA, Bonn, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Improving cognitive function and reducing stress may yield important benefits to individuals’ health and to society. We conduct an experiment involving a three-month within-firm training program based on the principles of mindfulness and positive psychology at three large companies. We find an improvement in the difference-in-differences across the training and control groups in all five non-incentivized measures and in seven of the eight incentivized tasks but only the non-incentivized measures and one of the incentivized measures reached a standard level of significance (above 5%), showing strong evidence of its impact on both reducing perceived stress and increasing self-reported cognitive flexibility and mindfulness. At the aggregate level, we identify an average treatment effect on the treated for the non-incentivized measures and some effect for the incentivized measures. Remarkably, the treatment effects persisted three months after the training sessions ended. Overall, mindfulness training seems to provide benefits for psychological and cognitive health in adults. |
| Keywords: | Mindfulness, Attention, Cognition, Stress, Lab-in-the-Field Experiment |
| JEL: | C91 I12 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:2315&r=exp |
| By: | Luca Fumarco (Masaryk University, Czechia); Benjamin Harrell (Trinity University); Patrick Button (Tulane University); David Schwegman (American University); E Dils (YouthForce NOLA) |
| Abstract: | Racial, ethnic, and gender minorities face mental health disparities. While mental health care can help, minoritized groups could face discriminatory barriers in accessing it. Discrimination may be particularly pronounced in mental health care because providers have more discretion over accepting patients. Research documents discrimination broadly, including in access to health care, but there is limited empirical research on discrimination in access to mental health care. We provide the first experimental evidence, from a correspondence audit field experiment (“simulated patients” study), of the extent to which transgender and non-binary people, African Americans, and Hispanics face discrimination in access to mental health care appointments. We find significant discrimination against transgender or non-binary African Americans and Hispanics. We do not find evidence of discrimination against White transgender and non-binary prospective patients. We are mostly inconclusive as to if cisgender African Americans or Hispanics face discrimination, except we find evidence of discrimination against cisgender African American women. |
| Keywords: | mental health care, transgender, racial discrimination, audit, therapy |
| JEL: | C93 I14 J16 I11 I18 J15 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mub:wpaper:2023-08&r=exp |
| By: | Sorravich Kingsuwankul (School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1105, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Tinbergen Institute, 1082 MS Amsterdam, The Netherlands); Chloe Tergiman (Pennsylvania State University, Smeal College of Business, 334 Business Building, University Park, PA 16802, United States); Marie Claire Villeval (Univ Lyon, CNRS, GATE UMR 5824. 93, Chemin des Mouilles, F-69130 Ecully, France. IZA, Bonn, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We use a laboratory experiment to understand the channels through which honesty oaths can affect behavior and credibility. Using a game with asymmetric information in a financial market setting that captures some important features of advisor-investor interactions, we manipulate the common knowledge of the promise and investigate three non-pecuniary costs of breaking an oath: co-player image costs, audience-image costs, and self-image costs. For investors oaths are neither sufficient nor necessary to generate trust: ultimately investors rely on their experience. We link laboratory results to a survey we conducted in the Netherlands where oaths are required in the banking sector. |
| Keywords: | Promise-keeping, Honesty Oaths, Common Knowledge, Deniability, Financial Markets, Laboratory Experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D01 D83 D91 G41 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:2316&r=exp |
| By: | Xinyu Li (PBL Netherlands); Marco Haan (University of Amsterdam); Sander Onderstal (University of Groningen); Jasper Veldman (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Globally, governments increasingly rely on auctions to advance renewable energy. This paper studies the design of wind farm auctions and evaluates the impact of price guarantees and subsidies on auction efficiency, government revenue, and renewable-energy production. While the theoretical analysis suggests that the price guarantee has no effect, our laboratory experiment suggests that the price guarantee improves efficiency and that it often increases production and revenue. An important explanation for these results is that less risk averse subjects tend to bid less aggressively and produce less. Without the price guarantee, and hence with more uncertainty in the auction, this increases the chances that risk-loving bidders win the auction, thus compromising auction efficiency. The subsidy is less effective than suggested by theory. Bidders with a higher valuation tend to bid more conservatively than the equilibrium prediction, thus neutralizing the efficiency-enhancing effect of the subsidy. |
| Keywords: | Auctions, Experiments, Wind farms, Renewable energy |
| JEL: | C92 D44 F64 H23 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–08–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230046&r=exp |
| By: | Wayne Aaron Sandholtz |
| Abstract: | This paper provides experimental evidence on the electoral effect of a large education reform in a developing democracy. Despite significantly improving school quality, the policy reduced the incumbent party’s presidential vote share by 3 percentage points (10%). This does not imply that voters fundamentally oppose service improvements: household surveys showed strong support for the policy, and variation in school-pair-level treatment effects shows that the more the policy raised test scores, the more it increased incumbent vote share. Instead, the negative average electoral effect was driven by opposition from teachers. The policy reduced teachers’ job satisfaction, their support for the incumbent government, and their political engagement. The more the policy reduced teacher political engagement, the more it reduced incumbent vote share. Counterfactual simulations suggest that relatively small improvements in effectiveness and/or teacher engagement could have made the policy a net vote winner. This paper empirically demonstrates the importance of political feasibility in the design of public service reforms. |
| Keywords: | electoral returns, policy feedback, public service delivery, policy experimentation, education, political economy, elections, randomized controlled trial, Liberia, information |
| JEL: | O10 C93 D72 P16 H41 I25 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10633&r=exp |
| By: | Batmanov, Alisher; Grigoryeva, Idaliya |
| Abstract: | Drobner (2022) examines the effect of manipulating experimental subjects' expectations about uncertainty resolution in learning about their performance on their belief updating patterns in an ego-relevant domain. In their preferred empirical specification, the author finds that individuals update their beliefs optimistically as they exhibit a higher belief adjustment in response to good compared to bad news only when they do not expect resolution of underlying uncertainty about their performance in an IQ test and neutrally when they know they will find out their relative performance at the end of the experiment. First, we reproduce the all of the paper's findings without identifying any coding errors. Second, we test the robustness of the results to (1) adding individual covariates and (2) excluding subjects who exhibit a fundamental error in their belief updating from the analysis. We find no substantial changes in the main coefficients of interest with the inclusion of demographic variables in the analysis, consistent with demonstrated balance in covariates between the two experimental groups. Yet, several of the main estimates lose statistical significance and change from conservatism (under-updating) to over-inference (over-updating) in some conditions on the subset of participants excluding those who exhibit fundamental errors in belief updating. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:65&r=exp |
| By: | David K. Evans (Center for Global Development); Katrina Kosec (FPRI) |
| Abstract: | Institutionalized conditional cash transfer (CCT) programs may affect important aspects of pre-existing, informal safety nets such as inter-household transfers and trust among community members. We use a randomized controlled trial to test the impact of CCTs on various measures of trust and informal safety nets within communities in Tanzania. We find evidence that the introduction of a CCT program increased program beneficiaries’ trust in other community members and their perceived ability to access support from other households (e.g., childcare). Although CCTs reduced the total size of transfers to beneficiary households in the community in the short run (after 1.75 years of transfers), that reduction had disappeared 2.75 years after transfers began. Taken together, our evidence suggests that formal CCT programs do not necessarily crowd out informal safety nets in the longer term, and they may in fact boost trust and support across households. |
| Keywords: | conditional cash transfers, informal safety nets, service delivery, trust |
| JEL: | H31 H55 I38 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–11–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:626&r=exp |
| By: | Diederich, Johannes; Epperson, Raphael; Goeschl, Timo |
| Abstract: | Unit donations are an alternative fundraising scheme in which potential donors choose how many units of a charitable good to fund, rather than just giving money. Based on evidence from an online experiment with 8, 673 participants, we demonstrate that well-designed unit donation schemes can significantly boost giving above and beyond the standard money donation scheme. A decomposition of the underlying mechanisms shows patterns consistent with the conjecture that unit donations increase impact salience and leverage donors’ cognitive biases by changing the metric of the donation space. The potential increase in donations likely outweighs the complications of designing a unit scheme, but requires expert handling of the choice of unit sizes. |
| Keywords: | aid effectiveness; charitable giving; framing; restricted choice; unit donation |
| Date: | 2023–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:0731&r=exp |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana; Best, Michael Carlos; Khan, Adnan; Prat, Andrea |
| Abstract: | We design a field experiment to study how the allocation of authority between frontline procurement officers and their monitors affects performance both directly and through the response to incentives. In collaboration with the government of Punjab, Pakistan, we shift authority from monitors to procurement officers and introduce financial incentives in a sample of 600 procurement officers in 26 districts. We find that autonomy alone reduces prices by 9% without reducing quality and that the effect is stronger when the monitor tends to delay approvals for purchases until the end of the fiscal year. In contrast, the effect of performance pay is muted, except when agents face a monitor who does not delay approvals. Time use data reveal agents' responses vary along the same margin: autonomy increases the time devoted to procurement, and this leads to lower prices only when monitors cause delays. By contrast, incentives work when monitors do not cause delays. The results illustrate that organizational design and anti-corruption policies must balance agency issues at different levels of the hierarchy. |
| Keywords: | IGC 37118-PAK; IGC 1-VCS-VPAK-VXXXX-37208 |
| JEL: | D02 D73 H57 |
| Date: | 2021–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:111840&r=exp |
| By: | Martina Jakob, Konstantin Buechel, Daniel Steffen, Aymo Brunetti |
| Abstract: | Participatory teaching methods have been shown to be more successful than traditional rote learning in high-income countries. It is, however, less clear if they can help address the learning crisis in low- and middle-income countries, where classes tend to be large and teachers have fewer resources at their disposal. Based on a field experiment with 440 teachers from 220 schools in Tanzania, we use official standardized student examinations to assess the impact of a pedagogy-centered intervention. A five-day in-service teacher training on participatory and practice-based methods improved students’ test scores 18 months later by 0.15s. The additional provision of laptops with a learning software allowing teachers to refresh their content knowledge did not yield further learning gains for students. Complementary results from qualitative surveys and interviews suggest that the program was highly appreciated by different stakeholders, but that participants are unable to assess its impact along different dimensions, giving equally positive evaluations of its successful and its less successful elements. |
| Keywords: | productivity in education, participatory teaching, teacher content knowledge, computerassisted learning, development economics. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ube:dpvwib:dp2310&r=exp |
| By: | Quentin Cavalan (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Vincent de Gardelle (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - 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); Jean-Christophe Vergnaud (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Many studies report that following feedback, individuals do not update their beliefs enough (a conservatism bias), and react more to good news than to bad news (an asymmetry bias), consistent with the idea of motivated beliefs. In the literature on conservatism and asymmetric updating, however, only one prior study focuses on judgments on absolute performance (Grossman & Owens, 2012), which finds that belief updating is well described by the Bayesian benchmark in that case. Here, we set out to test the replicability of these results and their robustness across several experimental manipulations, varying the uncertainty of participants' priors, the tasks to perform, the format of beliefs and the elicitation rules used to incentivize these beliefs. We also introduce new measures of ego-relevance of these beliefs, and of the credibility of the feedback received by participants. Overall, we confirm across various experimental conditions that individuals exhibit no conservatism and asymmetry bias when they update their beliefs about their absolute performance. As in Grossman & Owens (2012), most observations are well-described by a Bayesian benchmark in our data. These results suggest a limit to the manifestation of motivated beliefs, and call for more research on the conditions under which biases in belief updating occur. |
| Keywords: | asymmetry, feedback, biased updating, conservatism |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04197586&r=exp |
| By: | Farjam, Mike; Bravo, Giangiacomo (LInnaeus University) |
| Abstract: | Attitudes and expectations towards others are major drivers of political polarization, while little is known about actual differences in beliefs and behaviors between partisan groups. We designed an experiment where self-reported attitudes were contrasted with economically point estimates of official data where participants received an economic benefit for correct answers. Our design offers three key contributions: 1) when measuring attitudes, a small partisan sub-group with extreme attitudes is the main reason for the observed partisan gap, while this group disappears when measuring incentivized data estimates; 2) economically-incentivized and unincentivized measures within individuals hardly correlate; 3) we provide a novel measure of perceived polarization, where individuals guess data estimates of those with opposing party preferences and receive an economic compensation for correct guesses. This novel perceived polarization measure correlates with attitudes but not with data estimates, supporting models linking polarization more to expectations towards others than to actual behavioral differences. This casts further doubt on standard surveys measuring attitudes and points towards strategies to lower perceived polarization within contested issues. |
| Date: | 2023–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:sdmhw&r=exp |
| By: | Megan R. Bailey; David P. Brown; Blake C. Shaffer; Frank A. Wolak |
| Abstract: | We use a field experiment to measure the effectiveness of financial incentives and moral suasion “nudges” to shift the timing of electric vehicle (EV) charging. We find EV owners respond strongly to financial incentives, while nudges have no statistically discernible effect. When financial incentives are removed, charge timing reverts to pre-intervention behavior, showing no evidence of habit formation and reinforcing our finding that “money matters”. Our charge price responsiveness estimate is an order of magnitude larger than typical household electricity consumption elasticities. This result highlights the greater flexibility of EV charging over other forms of residential electricity demand. |
| JEL: | Q4 Q41 Q5 R48 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31630&r=exp |
| By: | Manisha Shah; Jennifer Seager; Joao Montalvao; Markus Goldstein |
| Abstract: | Adolescents in Sub-Saharan Africa have some of the highest rates of intimate partner violence across the globe. This paper evaluates the impact of a randomized controlled trial that offers females a goal setting activity to improve their sexual and reproductive health outcomes and offers their male partners a soccer intervention, which educates and inspires young men to make better sexual and reproductive health choices. Both interventions reduce female reports of intimate partner violence. Impacts are larger among females who were already sexually active at baseline. We develop a model to understand the mechanisms at play. The soccer intervention improves male attitudes around violence and risky sexual behaviors. Females in the goal setting arm take more control of their sexual and reproductive health by exiting violent relationships. Both of these mechanisms drive reductions in IPV. |
| JEL: | I12 O10 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31624&r=exp |
| By: | Laura Bakkensen; Quynh Nquyen; Toan Phan; Paul Shuler |
| Abstract: | An important yet less studied factor in determining the extent of adaptation to climate change is information: are people adequately informed about their vulnerability to future climate-related risks, and does their willingness to adapt depend on this knowledge? Focusing on how communication about projected sea level rise (SLR) affects the willingness to migrate, we implemented a large randomized control survey experiment with a nationally representative sample of more than 7, 000 respondents across all provinces in Vietnam. We randomly assign respondents to different information treatments. We find that providing a simple text-based information treatment about the general extent of Vietnam's exposure to projected SLR increases all respondents' willingness to migrate (including respondents living in areas not vulnerable to SLR). However, a more spatially precise map information treatment—providing the general text along with a map showing Vietnam's projected SLR exposure—leads to a more targeted effect: it only significantly increases the willingness to migrate of respondents currently residing in vulnerable areas. Finally, adding doubt to the information treatments—mentioning an official repudiation of the scientific projection of SLR—does not reduce the treatments' impact. Our findings are inconsistent with the commonly used perfect information benchmark, which assumes that people are fully informed about future climate-related risks. They also highlight the importance of providing spatially precise information in facilitating climate adaptation. |
| Keywords: | climate change; sea level rise; migration; disaster risk communication; survey experiment; public information |
| JEL: | Q5 |
| Date: | 2023–09–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedrwp:96878&r=exp |
| By: | Weber, Till O. (Newcastle University); Schulz, Jonathan F. (George Mason University); Beranek, Benjamin (Missouri State University); Lambarraa-Lehnhardt, Fatima (ZALF - Centre for Agricultural Landscape and Land Use Research); Gächter, Simon (University of Nottingham) |
| Abstract: | We examine the role of cooperative preferences, beliefs, and punishments to uncover potential cross-societal differences in voluntary cooperation. Using one-shot public goods experiments in four comparable subject pools from the US and the UK (two similar Western societies) and Morocco and Turkey (two comparable non-Western societies), we find that cooperation is lower in Morocco and Turkey than in the UK and the US. Using the ABC approach - in which cooperative attitudes and beliefs explain cooperation - we show that cooperation is mostly driven by differences in beliefs rather than cooperative preferences or peer punishment, both of which are similar across the four subject pools. Our methodology is generalizable across subject pools and highlights the central role of beliefs in explaining differences in voluntary cooperation within and across culturally, economically, and institutionally diverse societies. Because our behavioral mechanisms correctly predict actual contributions, we argue that our approach provides a suitable methodology for analyzing the determinants of voluntary cooperation of any group of interest. |
| Keywords: | cross-cultural experiments, punishment, beliefs, conditional cooperation, ABC method, voluntary cooperation, public goods, WEIRD societies |
| JEL: | C9 H4 C7 D2 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16415&r=exp |
| By: | Fries, Tilman |
| Abstract: | This replication report examines and extends the research conducted by Butera, Metcalfe, Morrison, and Taubinsky (2022) on "The Welfare Effects of Pride and Shame." The original paper explores the welfare implications of public recognition as a motivator for desirable behavior and introduces an empirical methodology to measure Public Recognition Utility (PRU), which quantifies the utility individuals experience when their actions are publicly recognized. This report focuses on the real effort experiment reported in the paper that was conducted using a classroom sample, a lab sample, and an online sample. I computationally reproduce the original results and verify their robustness. While reproducing the results, I found two minor coding errors in the replication package. Correcting these errors slightly changes some estimates reported in the paper but does not turn over any results. The main treatment effect findings are further robust to using different sets of controls and sample selection criteria. Moreover, I conduct a heterogeneity analysis which reveals significant variations in how participants value public recognition. Overall, the replication study confirms the original conclusions while providing additional insights into the heterogeneity of PRU shapes on an individual level. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:64&r=exp |
| By: | Andrew Brudevold-Newman (World Bank); Maddalena Honorati (World Bank); Gerald Ipapa (University of Delaware); Pamela Jakiela (Williams College; BREAD; Center for Global Development; IZA; J-PAL); Owen Ozier (Williams College; BREAD; IZA; J-PAL) |
| Abstract: | We evaluate two labor market interventions targeting young women in Nairobi, Kenya. The first was a multifaceted program involving vocational training, in-kind transfers of physical capital, and ongoing mentoring. The second was an unrestricted cash grant. Both interventions shift women into self-employment, impacts which persist after six years. Both programs also increase income in the short-term, but those effects disappear over time. Though the two treatments have similar impacts on labor market outcomes, women in the multifaceted program report significantly higher wellbeing six years after treatment relative to both women in the control group and those who received the grants. |
| Keywords: | youth unemployment, vocational training, cash grants, microenterprises, entrepreneurship, occupational choice, credit constraints, Africa, gende |
| JEL: | J24 M53 O12 |
| Date: | 2023–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:646&r=exp |
| By: | Julius Stoll |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a recent legal reform in Germany, which aims to lower commission rates of real estate agents by raising the cost salience of sellers. I find that the reform has backfired and real estate agents have exploited the transition to increase their commission rates. The findings document that in some regions real estate agents increase their commission by up to 2 percentage points, adding over € 6, 000 in transaction cost to the average home sale. As explicit collusion is unlikely in this setting, I argue that this arbitrary increase points to seller ignorance instead. To verify if and why sellers fail to induce price competition, I run a pre-registered survey experiment with 1, 062 real estate agents. Although commission rates should be negotiated independently for each sale, the survey confirms that 85% of sellers do not attempt to negotiate lower commission rates. The randomized experimental questions suggest that real estate agents may cater to the low willingness of sellers to negotiate by providing misleading reference commission rates and shrouding the economic incidence for sellers. |
| Date: | 2023–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdp:dpaper:0026&r=exp |
| By: | Shuguang Jiang; Marie Claire Villeval (GATE - GATE - GATE - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique -UMR5824) |
| Abstract: | We investigated lying as a collective‐risk social dilemma. Misreporting resulted in increased individual earnings but when total claims reached a certain threshold, all group members were at risk of collective sanction, regardless of their individual behavior. Due to selfishness and miscoordination, most individuals earned less than the reservation payoff from honest reporting in the group. However, preferences for truth‐telling lowered the risk of collective sanction in this setting compared to a social dilemma game in which players could make direct claims without lying. The risk of sanctions decreased with risk aversion and a smaller group size. |
| Keywords: | Dishonesty, Collective Risk, Public Bad, Group Size, Individualism, D01 |
| Date: | 2023–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04199012&r=exp |
| By: | Travis Baseler (University of Rochester); Thomas Ginn (Center for Global Development); Robert Hakiza (Young African Refugees for Integral Development (YARID)); Helidah Ogude-Chambert (University of Oxford); Olivia Woldemikael (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Many public policies create (perceived) winners and losers, but there is little evidence on whether redistribution can support new political economy equilibria that raise aggregate welfare. We conduct a randomized controlled trial in Kampala, Uganda studying foreign aid programs for Ugandans which are explicitly connected to the refugee presence. Cash grants labeled as part of the refugee aid response substantially increase support for admitting more refugees and allowing them to work and integrate. Sharing information about public goods funded by the refugee response has smaller, though still significant, effects. Impacts persist for at least two years and are associated with changing beliefs about the economic effects of refugees. We find minimal impacts of intergroup contact, implemented as business mentorship by an experienced refugee. Overall, our results suggest that economic interventions can meaningfully shape policy views when the connection between the policy and the assistance is salient. |
| Keywords: | Refugees, Political Economy of Aid, Firms & Productivity, Post-Conflict, Welfare |
| JEL: | D74 D83 I38 O12 |
| Date: | 2023–05–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:645&r=exp |
| By: | Lepinteur, Anthony (University of Luxembourg); Menta, Giorgia (LISER); Waltl, Sofie R. (University of Cambridge) |
| Abstract: | Participants to an online study in Luxembourg are presented with fictitious real-estate advertisements and tasked to make an offer for each of them. A random subset is also shown sellers' names that are strongly framed to signal their origins. Our randomised procedure allows us to conclude that, keeping everything else constant, a seller with a sub-Saharan African surname is systematically offered lower prices. Our most conservative estimates suggest that the average racial appraisal penalty is equal to roughly EUR 20, 000. This figure is highly heterogeneous and can amount up to around EUR 58, 000. Last, we provide evidence suggesting that this appraisal bias may very well pass through onto the final sales price and that it may be due to statistical discrimination. |
| Keywords: | racial discrimination, housing, randomised online experiment |
| JEL: | J15 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16418&r=exp |
| By: | Geurdes, Han |
| Abstract: | It is demonstrated that the statistical method of the famous Aspect- Bell experiment requires negative densities and negative probabilities from ”the thing” researched, else that thing doesn’t exist. The thing refers here to Einstein hidden variables. This requirement in the experiment is absurd and so the results from such experiment are meaningless. |
| Date: | 2023–08–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:293qg&r=exp |
| By: | Dimitris Georgarakos (European Central Bank and University of Glasgow); Tullio Jappelli (Università di Napoli Federico II, CSEF, and CEPR); Geoff Kenny (European Central Bank); Luigi Pistaferri (Stanford University, SIEPR, NBER and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | Using a large survey of euro area consumers, we design an experiment in which respondents report how they would change the decision to participate in the labor market, the hours worked, and their search effort (if not employed) in response to randomly assigned windfall gain scenarios. Windfall gains reduce labor supply, but only if they are significant in size. At the extensive margin, we find no effect for gains below €25, 000, and a decline in the probability of working of 3 percentage points for gains between €25, 000 and €100, 000. At the intensive margin, there is no effect for small gains, and a drop of roughly one weekly hour for gains above €50, 000. Women and workers closer to retirement respond more strongly to windfall gains. Finally, the proportion of those who stop searching for a job or search less intensively falls by 1 percentage point for each €10, 000 gain, and the effect is more pronounced for older individuals receiving the largest prize. |
| Keywords: | Survey Experiment; Labor Supply; Job Search; Wealth Shocks; Consumer Expectations Survey. |
| JEL: | E24 D10 J22 J68 |
| Date: | 2023–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sef:csefwp:682&r=exp |
| By: | Wilms, Rafael (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Oostrom, Janneke Karina (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); van Garderen, Emma |
| Abstract: | Women are often discriminated against in leader selection contexts. The goal of the present study is to examine the role of the rhetorical charisma signal, voice pitch and their interaction in female leader selection (i.e., perceptions of [incentivized] hirability, competence and warmth). We derive our hypotheses based on the charisma signaling theory and the evolutionary perspective on charisma. Based on two pre-registered experiments (total N = 1316), we found that the rhetorical charisma signal increases the applicant’s hirability, while the results were mixed for competence and warmth. Study 1 showed that small changes in voice pitch of ±20Hz did not affect any of the outcomes. In Study 2, we altered the actress’s voice to a low, average, and high female pitch. The results revealed that only a low (vs. baseline) but not a high voice (vs. baseline) pitch increased perceived hirability and competence (while perceived warmth remained unaffected). Furthermore, the interaction between the rhetorical charisma signal and voice pitch did not predict any of the outcomes. Theoretical contributions, practical implications and limitations are discussed. |
| Date: | 2023–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:bz6qg&r=exp |
| By: | Olga V. Demler; Ilona A. Demler |
| Abstract: | The win ratio (WR) is a novel statistic used in randomized controlled trials that can account for hierarchies within event outcomes. In this paper we report and study the long-run non-transitive behavior of the win ratio and the closely related Area Under the Receiver Operating Characteristics Curve (AUC) and argue that their transitivity cannot be taken for granted. Crucially, traditional within-group statistics (i.e., comparison of means) are always transitive, while the WR can detect non-transitivity. Non-transitivity provides valuable information on the stochastic relationship between two treatment groups, which should be tested and reported. We specify the necessary conditions for transitivity, the sufficient conditions for non-transitivity and demonstrate non-transitivity in a real-life large randomized controlled trial for the WR of time-to-death. Our results can be used to rule out or evaluate possibility of non-transitivity and show the importance of studying the strength of stochastic relationships. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.01791&r=exp |
| By: | Mohammed Shahid Abdulla (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode); L Ramprasath (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode) |
| Abstract: | Allocation of incoming subjects into a clinical trial has the potential of causing high-variance outcomes as opposed to an expected allocation calculated apriori using estimators and trial design guidelines. This presents an ethical risk since a larger-than-expected fraction of subjects may be randomized to the drug (or placebo) with poor outcomes. Earlier, a framework known as Patients-at-Risk (PaR) was proposed to choose one clinical trial design decisively over another based on simple statistical metrics obtained via simulation. In this work, we first propose a new allocation function termed cascaded allocation using ? (CAR) for an incoming subject to reduce the final variance of the allocation. Next, we modify CAR to further reduce the possibility of an ethically poor outcome, i.e. allocating a subject to the trial arm that is currently unfavourable - thus reducing PaR. We show analytical and empirical results for both the reducedvariance allocation algorithm as well as the low-PaR variant, i.e. PARIVAR-CT. |
| Keywords: | hypothesis testing, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials. |
| Date: | 2023–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iik:wpaper:558&r=exp |
| By: | Nompumelelo Mohohlwane (Department of Basic Education, Pretoria, South Africa; Center for Global Development); Stephen Taylor (Department of Basic Education, Pretoria, South Africa); Jacobus Cilliers (Georgetown University, Washington, DC); Brahm Fleisch (University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | In many countries children need to become proficient in both their home language (L1) and an international language, such as English (L2). Governments face trade-offs in how to prioritize these two objectives. We provide empirical evidence on cross-linguistic transfer between L1 and L2, using results of two randomized evaluations of Structured Pedagogy Programs implemented in South Africa. The programs had the same design, implementing organization, and duration. The key difference is that one program targeted the teaching of reading in L1, while the other targeted L2. We find that both interventions had positive effects on the languages they targeted. The L1 intervention also had a positive effect on L2 reading proficiency. In contrast, the L2 intervention had a negative effect on L1 outcomes, for the lower-performing students. These results are consistent with the Simple View of Reading and suggest that decoding skills are best learned in L1. It is thus cost-effective to prioritize learning to read in L1, as well as supporting teachers in this subject, even if becoming proficient in L2 is also regarded as an important policy objective. |
| Keywords: | language transfer, mother-tongue, language policy, teacher professional development |
| Date: | 2023–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:647&r=exp |
| By: | Wei James Chen; Meng-Jhang Fong; Po-Hsuan Lin |
| Abstract: | Determining an individual's strategic reasoning capability based solely on choice data is a complex task. This complexity arises because sophisticated players might have non-equilibrium beliefs about others, leading to non-equilibrium actions. In our study, we pair human participants with computer players known to be fully rational. This use of robot players allows us to disentangle limited reasoning capacity from belief formation and social biases. Our results show that, when paired with robots, subjects consistently demonstrate higher levels of rationality and maintain stable rationality levels across different games compared to when paired with humans. This suggests that strategic reasoning might indeed be a consistent trait in individuals. Furthermore, the identified rationality limits could serve as a measure for evaluating an individual's strategic capacity when their beliefs about others are adequately controlled. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2309.07427&r=exp |
| By: | Kehinde F. Ajayi (Center for Global Development); Aziz Dao (World Bank); Estelle Koussoubé (World Bank) |
| Abstract: | We study whether providing affordable childcare improves women's economic empowerment and child development, using data from a sample of 1, 990 women participating in a public works program in Burkina Faso. Out of 36 urban work sites, 18 were randomly selected to receive community-based childcare centers. One in four women offered the centers use them, tripling childcare center usage for children aged 0 to 6. Women's employment and financial outcomes improve. Additionally, child development scores increase. However, we find no significant effects on women's decision-making autonomy, gender attitudes, or intrahousehold dynamics, suggesting the importance of considering multiple dimensions of childcare impacts. |
| Keywords: | gender, labor, welfare, childcare, early childhood development |
| JEL: | J16 J13 I38 O15 |
| Date: | 2022–11–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:628&r=exp |