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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Ivan Soraperra; Joël van der Weele; Marie Claire Villeval (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'Analyse et de Théorie Economique Lyon - Saint-Etienne - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Shaul Shalvi |
| Abstract: | We experimentally study the social transmission of "inconvenient" information about the externalities generated by one's own decision. In the laboratory, we pair uninformed decision makers with informed senders. Compared to a setting where subjects can choose their information directly, we find that social interactions increase selfish decisions. On the supply side, senders suppress almost 30 percent of "inconvenient" information, driven by their own preferences for information and their beliefs about the decision maker's preferences. On the demand side, about one-third of decision makers avoids senders who transmit inconvenient information ("shooting the messenger"), which leads to assortative matching between information-suppressing senders and information-avoiding decision makers. Having more control over information generates opposing effects on behavior: selfish decision makers remain ignorant more often and donate less, while altruistic decision makers seek out informative senders and give more. We discuss applications to information sharing in social networks and to organizational design |
| Keywords: | Social interactions, Information avoidance, Assortative matching, Ethical behavior, Experiment |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04369898&r=exp |
| By: | Miguel à ngel Borrella-Mas, Jaime Millán-Quijano, Anastasia Terskaya |
| Keywords: | Cash transfers, labeling effect, food vouchers, randomized control trial. |
| JEL: | D04 I24 I38 O12 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nva:unnvaa:wp04-2023&r=exp |
| By: | Sebastian Bauhoff (Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health); Eeshani Kandpal (Center for Global Development) |
| Abstract: | A two-stage experiment disentangles the effect of various aspects of pay-for-performance contracts. The first is a lab-in-the-field experiment where 1, 359 health workers are primed with a checklist of salient clinical tasks, then randomized within 690 clinics to receive no incentives, rewards, or penalties for treating hypothetical patients. Both rewards and penalties improve performance by 20 percent and generate spillovers on unincentivized tasks, but small incentives capture most gains. In the second stage, lab impacts translate into the real world: lab PFP exposure improves by 20 percent the care provided to real-world patients even after the lab experiment. |
| Keywords: | Pay-for-performance; Health workers; Lab-in-the-field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 I11 I15 J41 J45 M52 O15 |
| Date: | 2024–01–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:677&r=exp |
| By: | Hans Bonesrønning; Jon Marius Vaag Iversen |
| Abstract: | We use data from a large field experiment where young students were pulled out of their regular classes and offered mathematics instruction in small homogenous groups, to investigate the importance of the tutors’ instructional practices. The analyzes are limited to low achievers, and the instructional practices are characterized by the degree of individualization and the tutors’ allocation of attention between students. Tutors who spent much time with avoidant students were associated with a treatment effect of approximately 0.20 SD while tutors who spent little time with these students were associated with no significant treatment effects. |
| Keywords: | tutoring, tutor quality |
| JEL: | I20 I21 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10878&r=exp |
| By: | Tijan Bah |
| Keywords: | Irregular migration, migration deterrence, information interventions, vocational training, cash transfer, randomized experiment. |
| JEL: | O15 F22 J61 |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nva:unnvaa:wp05-2022&r=exp |
| By: | Kevin Bauer; Yan Chen; Florian Hett; Michael Kosfeld |
| Abstract: | How does group identity affect belief formation? To address this question, we conduct a series of online experiments with a representative sample of individuals in the US. Using the setting of the 2020 US presidential election, we find evidence of intergroup preference across three distinct components of the belief formation cycle: a biased prior belief, avoidance of outgroup information sources, and a belief-updating process that places greater (less) weight on prior (new) information. We further find that an intervention reducing the salience of information sources decreases outgroup information avoidance by 50%. In a social learning context in wave 2, we find participants place 33% more weight on ingroup than outgroup guesses. Through two waves of interventions, we identify source utility as the mechanism driving group effects in belief formation. Our analyses indicate that our observed effects are driven by groupy participants who exhibit stable and consistent intergroup preferences in both allocation decisions and belief formation across all three waves. These results suggest that policymakers could reduce the salience of group and partisan identity associated with a policy to decrease outgroup information avoidance and increase policy uptake. |
| Keywords: | group identity, information demand, information processing, political polarization |
| JEL: | D47 C78 C92 D82 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10859&r=exp |
| By: | Henrique (Department of Economics, Brown University) |
| Abstract: | With global forced displacement at an unprecedented level, there is an increasing demand for low-cost interventions that can reduce tension between displaced persons and host communities. This study undertakes a novel field experiment designed to improve the social integration of internally displaced persons (IDPs) into host communities under conditions of scarce resources and low state capacity. The experiment was conducted in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique’s northernmost province, where an Islamist insurgency has resulted in over one million IDPs. Hosts and IDPs participated in joint community meetings in which they discussed topics related to the collective life of both groups, and IDPs also narrated their stories of escape from insurgents. Analysis of survey data, list experiments, the Implicit Association Test, and lab-in-the-field games shows that the community meetings produced immediate and sustained positive effects on the relationship between hosts and IDPs. Religious tolerance also improved, and religious-extremist beliefs decreased, highlighting the potential of intergroup contact to support counterinsurgency efforts. As a novel insight, this study finds that even brief but structured intergroup interactions can have a beneficial long-lasting impact on social cohesion. |
| JEL: | C93 D74 D83 D91 J15 O15 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:405&r=exp |
| By: | Fabian Dvorak; Regina Stumpf; Sebastian Fehrler; Urs Fischbacher |
| Abstract: | Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to reshape the way individuals communicate and interact. While this form of AI has the potential to efficiently make numerous human decisions, there is limited understanding of how individuals respond to its use in social interaction. In particular, it remains unclear how individuals engage with algorithms when the interaction entails consequences for other people. Here, we report the results of a large-scale pre-registered online experiment (N = 3, 552) indicating diminished fairness, trust, trustworthiness, cooperation, and coordination by human players in economic twoplayer games, when the decision of the interaction partner is taken over by ChatGPT. On the contrary, we observe no adverse welfare effects when individuals are uncertain about whether they are interacting with a human or generative AI. Therefore, the promotion of AI transparency, often suggested as a solution to mitigate the negative impacts of generative AI on society, shows a detrimental effect on welfare in our study. Concurrently, participants frequently delegate decisions to ChatGPT, particularly when the AI's involvement is undisclosed, and individuals struggle to discern between AI and human decisions. |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2401.12773&r=exp |
| By: | Ilke Aydogan (IÉSEG School Of Management [Puteaux]); Loïc Berger (CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IÉSEG School Of Management [Puteaux], EIEE - European Institute on Economics and the Environment, CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici [Bologna]); Valentina Bosetti (Bocconi University [Milan, Italy], EIEE - European Institute on Economics and the Environment, CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici [Bologna]); Ning Liu (BUAA - Beihang University) |
| Abstract: | We explore decision-making under uncertainty using a framework that decomposes uncertainty into three distinct layers: (1) risk, which entails inherent randomness within a given probability model; (2) model ambiguity, which entails uncertainty about the probability model to be used; and (3) model misspecification, which entails uncertainty about the presence of the correct probability model among the set of models considered. Using a new experimental design, we isolate and measure attitudes toward each layer separately. We conduct our experiment on three different subject pools and document, the existence of a behavioral distinction between the three layers. In addition to |
| Date: | 2023–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04370968&r=exp |
| By: | Syngjoo Choi (SNU - Seoul National University [Seoul]); Sanjeev Goyal (CAM - University of Cambridge [UK], NYU - New York University [New York] - NYU - NYU System); Frederic Moisan (EM - emlyon business school) |
| Abstract: | "This paper provides experimental evidence on the economic determinants of intermediation networks by considering two pricing rules—respectively, criticality and betweenness—and three group sizes of subjects—10, 50, and 100 subjects. We find that when brokerage benefits accrue only to traders who lie on all paths of intermediation, stable networks involve interconnected cycles, and trading path lengths grow while linking and payoff inequality remain modest as the number of traders grows. By contrast, when brokerage benefits are equally distributed among traders on the shortest paths, stable networks contain a few hubs that provide the vast majority of links, and trading path lengths remain unchanged while linking and payoff inequality explode as the number of traders grows." |
| Keywords: | intermediation networks, brokerage rents, large-scale laboratory experiment |
| Date: | 2023–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04325708&r=exp |
| By: | Emmanuel Kemel (GREGHEC - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion - HEC Paris - Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Corina Paraschiv (LIRAES (URP_ 4470) - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire de Recherche Appliquée en Economie de la Santé - UPCité - Université Paris Cité) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents an experiment that investigates differences in risk attitudes in decisions with immediate versus delayed consequences. Our experimental design allows to control for the effects of discounting and timing of risk resolution. We show that individuals are more risk tolerant in situations involving delayed consequences. Investigations based on rank-dependent utility show that this finding is mainly driven by probability weighting. More precisely, probability weighting is more elevated for delayed consequences. This suggests an overall increase in decision-makers' optimism regarding the chances of success when consequences materialize in the future. |
| Keywords: | Risk Attitudes, Time, Rank Dependent Utility, Delay, Future Consequences |
| Date: | 2023–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04385738&r=exp |
| By: | Ilke Aydogan (IÉSEG School Of Management [Puteaux]); Loïc Berger (CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, IÉSEG School Of Management [Puteaux], EIEE - European Institute on Economics and the Environment, CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici [Bologna]); Valentina Bosetti (Bocconi University [Milan, Italy], EIEE - European Institute on Economics and the Environment, CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo per i Cambiamenti Climatici [Bologna]) |
| Abstract: | We report the results of two experiments designed to better understand the mechanisms driving decision-making under ambiguity. We elicit individual preferences over different sources of uncertainty (risk, compound risk, model ambiguity, and Ellsberg ambiguity), which entail different degrees of complexity, from subjects with different sophistication levels. We show that (1) ambiguity aversion is robust to sophistication, but the strong relationship that has been previously reported between attitudes toward ambiguity and compound risk is not. (2) Ellsberg ambiguity attitude can be partly explained by attitudes toward complexity for less sophisticated subjects, but not for more sophisticated ones. Overall, and regardless of the subject's sophistication level, the main driver of Ellsberg ambiguity attitude is a specific treatment of unknown probabilities. These results leave room for using ambiguity models in applications with prescriptive purposes. |
| Keywords: | Ambiguity aversion, complexity, reduction of compound risk, model uncertainty |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04071242&r=exp |
| By: | Byrne, Shane (Central Bank of Ireland and Trinity College Dublin); Devine, Kenneth (Central Bank of Ireland and University College Dublin); King, Michael (Trinity College Dublin); McCarthy, Yvonne (Central Bank of Ireland); Palmer, Christopher (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NBER, and J-PAL) |
| Abstract: | Under-refinancing limits the transmission of accommodative monetary policy to the household sector and costs mortgage holders in many countries a significant fraction of income annually. We test whether targeted communication can reduce the attention frictions that inhibit transmission by partnering with a large bank to analyze a field experiment testing messages sent to 12, 000 Irish households. While we find only small effects of disclosure design improvements, a reminder letter increases refinancing by 76%, from 8.9% to 15.7%. To interpret this reminder effect, we extend and estimate a mixture model of inattentive financial decision-making to allow for disclosure treatment effects on attention. We find that reminders increase the likelihood mortgage holders are attentive by over 60%, from 24% to 39%. A conservative back-of-the-envelope cost-effectiveness calculation implies that the average reminder letter generated e42 of mortgage borrower consumption (e605 per refinancing household). Our results illustrate that regulatory interventions to enhance lenders’ communication to customers, such as refinancing reminders - or, in a more theoretical setup, targeted central bank communications - could have a larger effect on refinancing than a standard policy rate cut. Reminders could further strengthen the refinancing channel and stimulate local consumption even when policy rates are at the zero-lower bound or set in a monetary union. |
| Keywords: | Monetary policy transmission, inattention, refinancing, central bank communication, disclosure. |
| JEL: | D83 E58 G21 G28 G51 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbi:wpaper:6/rt/23&r=exp |
| By: | Balcombe, Kelvin; Fraser, Iain |
| Abstract: | e introduce an alternative approach to lottery prospects experimental design aimed at collecting experimental data for parametric estimation of the cumulative form of Prospect Theory (PT). Our approach incorporates two fundamental principles: ensuring that all tasks provide valuable information and avoiding redundancy among tasks. These principles mean that we avoid the construction of lottery prospects that duplicate information within the set of tasks generated. The methodological approach that we have designed ensures that each lottery pair is non-redundant in an informational sense. This means that the set of lottery tasks generated can help to improve the effectiveness of data collection when estimation of preference parameters is the main research objective. In this note, we describe our approach to experimental design in detail. |
| Keywords: | Experimental Design; Lotteries; Risk and Uncertainty; Prospect Theory. |
| JEL: | C52 C90 D81 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:119743&r=exp |
| By: | Genakos, Christos; Roumanias, Costas; Valletti, Tommaso |
| Abstract: | We present novel evidence from a large panel of UK consumers who receive personalized reminders from a specialist price-comparison website about the precise amount they could save by switching to their best-suited alternative mobile telephony plan. We document three phenomena. First, even self-registered consumers with positive savings exhibit inertia. Second, we show that being informed about potential savings has a positive and significant effect on switching. Third, controlling for savings, the effect of incurring overage payments is significant and similar in magnitude to the effect of savings: paying an amount that exceeds the recurrent monthly fee weighs more on the switching decision than being informed that one can save that same amount by switching to a less inclusive plan. We interpret this asymmetric reaction on switching behavior as potential evidence of loss aversion. In other words, when facing complex and recurrent tariff plan choices, consumers care about savings but also seem to be willing to pay upfront fees in order to get "peace of mind". |
| Keywords: | tariff/plan choice; inertia; switching; loss aversion; mobile telephony |
| JEL: | D91 D12 D81 L96 M30 |
| Date: | 2023–07–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:121294&r=exp |
| By: | Julie Bayle-Cordier (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Loïc Berger (IÉSEG School Of Management [Puteaux], CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Rayan Elatmani (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Massimo Tavoni (CMCC - Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, POLIMI - Politecnico di Milano [Milan]) |
| Abstract: | Mindfulness practices have the potential to induce the cognitive and behavioral changes needed to foster pro-environmental behavior and increase support toward sustainable and climate-oriented policies. However, the empirical evidence of the effectiveness of meditation on sustainable behavior is limited and mostly confined to correlational studies, often based on the same type of mindfulness interventions. In this paper, we report the results of an online experiment (n = 1000) comparing the impact of three different short-term mindfulness interventions on various (self-reported and incentivized) measures of mindfulness state and sustainable behavior. While only one of our interventions is found to impact environmental attitude and climate policy support directly, we show that the three meditation practices indirectly foster sustainable behavior through preidentified mediators. These results are relevant for organizations and policymakers who seek to foster climate policy support and environmental attitudes in their stakeholders. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04272099&r=exp |
| By: | Aljosha Henkel; Ernst Fehr; Julien Senn; Thomas Epper |
| Abstract: | Do beliefs about inequality depend on distributive preferences? What is the joint role of preferences and beliefs about inequality for support for redistribution? We study these questions in a staggered experiment with a representative sample of the Swiss population conducted in the context of a vote on a highly redistributive policy proposal. Our sample comprises a majority of inequality averse subjects, a sizeable group of altruistic subjects, and a minority of predominantly selfish subjects. Irrespective of preference types, individuals vastly overestimate the extent of income inequality. An information intervention successfully corrects these large misperceptions for all types, but essentially does not affect aggregate support for redistribution. These results hide, however, important heterogeneity because the effects of beliefs about inequality for demand for redistribution are preference-dependent: only affluent inequality averse individuals, but not the selfish and altruistic ones, significantly reduce their support for redistribution. These findings cast a new light on the seemingly puzzling result that, in the aggregate, large changes in beliefs about inequality often do not translate into changes in demand for redistribution. |
| Keywords: | Social preferences, beliefs about inequality, preferences for redistribution, information, inequality aversion |
| JEL: | D31 D72 H23 H24 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:442&r=exp |
| By: | Alessandra Casarico; Jana Schuetz; Silke Uebelmesser |
| Abstract: | We conduct a survey experiment with four thousand German respondents and provide information on two measures of gender inequality, separately or jointly: the gender gap in earnings and the gender gap in pensions. We analyze the effect of information provision on respondents’ views on the importance of reducing gender inequality and on their agreement with the adoption of policies targeted at different stages of the life cycle and aimed at reducing the gaps. We find that providing information on both gaps changes perceptions of the importance of reducing gender inequality and adopting policy measures to this end. Information on only one gap tends to have insignificant effects. By exploring the mechanisms behind our results, we provide insights into the importance of individual views on female disadvantages in the labor market, personal experience of inequality, and social norms as correlates of preferences for reducing gender inequality and policy interventions. We also show that information provision has larger effects on women and young respondents, while treatment effects do not differ by political leaning. These individual characteristics also relate to differences in identifying causes of gender inequality. |
| Keywords: | gender earnings, gap, gender pension gap, gender inequality, survey experiment, information provision, policy preferences |
| JEL: | C90 D63 J16 J38 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10916&r=exp |
| By: | Barbara Ikica (UZH - Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich, ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]); Simon Jantschgi (UZH - Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich); Heinrich H Nax (UZH - Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich, ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]); Diego G Nuñez Duran (UZH - Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich, ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]); Bary S R Pradelski (POLARIS - Performance analysis and optimization of LARge Infrastructures and Systems - Inria Grenoble - Rhône-Alpes - Inria - Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique - LIG - Laboratoire d'Informatique de Grenoble - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, UZH - Universität Zürich [Zürich] = University of Zurich, ETH Zürich - Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology [Zürich]) |
| Abstract: | We conducted a large number of controlled continuous double auction experiments to reproduce and stress-test the phenomenon of convergence to competitive equilibrium under private information with decentralized trading feedback. Our main finding is that across a total of 104 markets (involving over 1, 700 subjects), convergence occurs after a handful of trading periods. Initially, however, there is an inherent asymmetry that favors buyers, typically resulting in prices below equilibrium levels. Analysis of over 80, 000 observations of individual bids and asks helps identify empirical ingredients contributing to the observed phenomena including higher levels of aggressiveness initially among buyers than sellers. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04367512&r=exp |
| By: | Christa Brunnschweiler; Nanang Kurniawan; Päivi Lujala; Primi Putri; Sabrina Scherzer; Indah Wardhani; Christa N. Brunnschweiler |
| Abstract: | The governance of natural resource wealth is a key factor in promoting strong institutions and economic development in resource-rich countries. In this paper, we explore how individuals’ engagement in local natural resource revenue (NRR) management can be enhanced and encouraged. We focus on Indonesia, which is a large gold and petroleum producer, among other natural resources, with local challenges such as underdevelopment of resource-rich areas and corruption. We run a randomized survey experiment among 807 local community members in an oil-rich district using videos with three information treatments that give citizens salient and easily understandable information on local NRR and additional motivation to use this information to engage in NRR management. Our outcomes include survey questions on stated behavior and citizen rights perception regarding NRR management, and two incentive-compatible measures. We find that providing easily understandable information increases respondents’ sense of the right to personally influence how NRR are used and the propensity to donate to an anti-corruption NGO. Our positive-example treatment was able to increase respondents’ sense of their right to benefit from NRR and their right to influence NRR management, while our negative-example treatment had no impact on our outcomes. We also explore intervening mechanisms and heterogeneous effects. Providing the population of resource-rich areas with easily understood information on NRR management that is relevant to the local context offers an encouraging avenue for combating NRR-related mismanagement and corruption. |
| Keywords: | accountability, survey experiment, video, Indonesia, petroleum revenues, information treatment |
| JEL: | Q35 Q38 H41 H23 D80 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10886&r=exp |
| By: | Weerachart Kilenthong; Sartja Duangchaiyoosook; Wasinee Jantorn; Varunee Khruapradit |
| Abstract: | This study evaluates the effectiveness of intensive and hands-on on-site training for preschool teachers using a randomized controlled trial in rural Thailand. The main finding is that the intervention led to an increase in the effectiveness of the classroom in terms of children’s cognitive skills by almost 50 percent relative to the control group. The on-site training intervention is cost-effective, costing 32.7 USD per student. Further investigation reveals that its specificity regarding the teaching approach or curriculum and detailed weekly teaching plans could be critical to its success. |
| Keywords: | Teacher training; Teacher professional development; Early childhood; School readiness; On-site training; Randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | I21 I25 J24 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pui:dpaper:215&r=exp |
| By: | Andor, Mark Andreas; Grossmann, Igor; Hönow, Nils Christian; Tomberg, Lukas |
| Abstract: | Prosocial behavior is crucial for tackling global challenges such as climate change, poverty, and conflict, yet people often prioritize personal benefits over the common good. A classic philosophical proposition is that prosocial behavior benefits from psychological wisdom - a concept characterized by cognitive and behavioral scientists by expression of intellectual humility, open-mindedness towards different ways in which events may unfold, as well as consideration and integration of diverse viewpoints. We investigate the relationship between these features of wisdom and prosocial behavior in an incentivized donation experiment, as well as self-reported real-world behaviors such as blood and charity donations across 13, 500 households in nine European countries. Our findings reveal that greater expression of wisdom was systematically aligned with contributions to climate change mitigation, donating blood and money to charitable causes, compliance with rules and behaviors to contain the spread of the COVID-19 virus, voting in parliamentary elections, volunteering and being a member of an environmental group. These results were robust across experimental conditions varying vantage point (self-focused or other-focused), when examining wisdom in reflections specific to climate donation decisions, or reflections on one's personal life experiences, or when accounting for effect socioeconomic characteristics, personality, and values of prosocial behavior. Finally, the association was observed in each of the country samples, albeit with varying strengths. |
| Abstract: | Prosoziales Verhalten ist für die Bewältigung globaler Herausforderungen wie Klimawandel, Armut und Konflikte von entscheidender Bedeutung, jedoch stellen Menschen oftmals den persönlichen Nutzen über das Gemeinwohl. Laut einer klassischen philosophischen These wird prosoziales Verhalten erhöht durch Weisheit, einem Konzept, das von Verhaltenswissenschaftlerinnen und Verhaltenswissenschaftlern durch den Ausdruck intellektueller Bescheidenheit, Aufgeschlossenheit gegenüber verschiedenen Möglichkeiten, wie sich Ereignisse entfalten können, sowie durch die Berücksichtigung und Integration unterschiedlicher Standpunkte charakterisiert wird. Wir untersuchen die Beziehung zwischen der durch diese Facetten ausgedrückten Weisheit und prosozialem Verhalten in einem Spendenexperiment sowie in angegebenem realen Verhalten, bspw. Blut- und Geldspenden anhand von 13.500 Haushalten in neun europäischen Ländern. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass eine stärkere Ausprägung von Weisheit systematisch mit höheren Spenden zum Klimaschutz, Blut- und Geldspenden für wohltätige Zwecke, der Einhaltung von Regeln und Verhaltensweisen zur Eindämmung der Ausbreitung des COVID-19-Virus, der Teilnahme an Parlamentswahlen, Freiwilligenarbeit und der Mitgliedschaft in einer Umweltgruppe verbunden war. Diese Ergebnisse waren unter verschiedenen Versuchsbedingungen, über unterschiedliche Perspektiven (selbst- oder fremdorientiert), bei der Untersuchung der Weisheit im Kontext von Klimaspendenentscheidungen und im Kontext von persönlichen Lebenserfahrungen robust, sowie auch unter Berücksichtigung von sozioökonomischen oder persönlichkeitsbezogenen Merkmalen. Der Zusammenhang wurde darüber hinaus in jeder der Länderstichproben beobachtet, wenn auch in unterschiedlicher Stärke. |
| Keywords: | Wise reasoning, prosocial behavior, field experiment, survey, epistemic cognition |
| JEL: | D83 D91 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:281195&r=exp |
| By: | Hermes, Henning; Lergetporer, Philipp; Mierisch, Fabian; Schwerdt, Guido; Wiederhold, Simon |
| Abstract: | We investigate public preferences for equity-enhancing policies in access to early child care, using a survey experiment with a representative sample of the German population (n ≈ 4, 800). We observe strong misperceptions about migrant-native inequalities in early child care that vary by respondents' age and right-wing voting preferences. Randomly providing information about the actual extent of inequalities has a nuanced impact on the support for equity-enhancing policy reforms: it increases support for respondents who initially underestimated these inequalities, and tends to decrease support for those who initially overestimated them. This asymmetric effect leads to a more consensual policy view, substantially decreasing the polarization in policy support between under- and overestimators. Our results suggest that correcting misperceptions can align public policy preferences, potentially leading to less polarized debates about how to address inequalities and discrimination. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:281780&r=exp |
| By: | Alexander Coutts (York University); Boon Han Koh (University of Exeter); Zahra Murad (University of Portsmouth) |
| Abstract: | Feedback is a vital tool used by organizations and educators to improve performance, spark learning, and foster individual growth. Yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that many individuals are hesitant to provide others with feedback. Moreover, gender biases may influence its provision, with consequences for the representation of women in leadership and com- petitive professions. We study feedback provision under different conditions that vary the nature of performance signals, how instrumental they are for decision making, and gender of the recipient. Our results reveal that a substantial degree of feedback is withheld by advisors. Moreover, advisors are more likely to shield women from negative feedback in conditions characterized both by a lack of complete information about performance, and feedback that is not immediately instrumental for their decision-making. This effect is driven by male advisors. Our findings showcase how gender differences can arise in feedback provision, and highlight when these differences may be more likely to appear. |
| Keywords: | Feedback Provision; Gender; Ego/Belief Utility; Competitiveness; Discrimination |
| JEL: | C90 D83 D91 J16 M54 |
| Date: | 2024–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pbs:ecofin:2024-02&r=exp |
| By: | Lergetporer, Philipp (Technical University of Munich); Wedel, Katharina (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Werner, Katharina (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | We study how beliefs about the automatability of workers' occupation affect labor-market expectations and willingness to participate in further training. In our representative online survey, respondents on average underestimate the automation risk of their occupation, especially those in high-automatability occupations. Randomized information about their occupations' automatability increases respondents' concerns about their professional future, and expectations about future changes in their work environment. The information also increases willingness to participate in further training, especially among respondents in highly automatable occupation (+five percentage points). This uptick substantially narrows the gap in willingness to train between those in high- and low-automatability occupations. |
| Keywords: | automation, further training, labor-market expectations, survey experiment, information |
| JEL: | J24 O33 I29 D83 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16687&r=exp |
| By: | Dione, Malick; Heckert, Jessica; Hidrobo, Melissa; Le Port, Agnès; Peterman, Amber; Seye, Moustapha |
| Abstract: | Edutainment shows promise in changing behavior at scale, yet little is known about how to maximize impacts. We undertake an experimental evaluation of a popular television series, C’est la vie!, delivered through film clubs in rural Senegal, on violence against women and girls, and sexual and reproductive health knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. We find C’est la vie! improved knowledge three months after film clubs ended, as well as violence-related attitudes nine months later, however, find no impacts on behaviors. We investigate design components intended to strengthen impacts, generally finding no additional impacts from post-screening discussions, engaging men, and podcasts. |
| Keywords: | behavior; education; television; violence; gender; women; health; knowledge; impact edutainment; SENEGAL; WEST AFRICA; AFRICA SOUTH OF SAHARA; AFRICA |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2210&r=exp |
| By: | Becker, Malte (Kiel Institute for the World Economy); Krüger, Finja (Kiel Institute for the World Economy); Heidland, Tobias (Kiel Institute for the World Economy) |
| Abstract: | We explore whether attitudes toward immigration and their determinants known from well-studied high-income countries also hold in so far understudied low-income settings where the economic, societal, and geopolitical circumstances differ markedly. Using a causal framework based on experimental and survey data in Uganda and Senegal, we extend the literature by introducing a new concept - power concerns - to test whether perceptions of foreign influence in business and politics affect attitudes toward immigrants. Furthermore, we provide evidence of the perceptions of Chinese immigrants in Africa, whose increasing presence is highly controversial and politicized. |
| Keywords: | attitudes toward immigration, China in Africa, migration, experiment, conjoint |
| JEL: | F22 O15 O55 |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16734&r=exp |
| By: | McMahon, Michael (University of Oxford, CEPR and CfM (LSE)); Naylor, Matthew (Bank of England) |
| Abstract: | Policymakers communicate complex messages to multiple audiences; we investigate how complexity impacts messages ‘getting through’ effectively. We distinguish ‘semantic’ complexity – the focus of existing empirical studies – from ‘conceptual’ complexity, which better reflects information‑processing costs identified by theory. We conduct an information‑provision experiment using central bank communications; conceptual complexity – captured by a novel quantitative measure we construct – matters more for getting through. This is true even for technically trained individuals. Bank of England efforts to simplify language have reduced traditional semantic measures, but conceptual complexity has actually increased. Our findings can direct efforts for effective policy communication design. |
| Keywords: | Information transmission; central bank communications; linguistic complexity; rational inattention |
| JEL: | C83 E58 E61 E70 |
| Date: | 2023–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:boe:boeewp:1047&r=exp |