|
on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Alice Pizzo (Copenhagen Business School); Christina Gravert (Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen); Jan M. Bauer (Copenhagen Business School); Lucia Reisch (University of Cambridge, Judge Business School) |
| Abstract: | We examine the impact of a carbon tax on consumer choices via a large-scale online randomized controlled trial. Higher taxes generally reduce the demand for high-carbon goods. Compared to an import tax, a carbon tax reduces demand when the tax is zero (i.e., announced but not levied) but shows relatively higher demand for high-carbon goods when a positive tax is introduced. This contradiction of basic price theory is entirely driven by climate-concerned consumers. Our findings suggest that carbon taxes can crowd out climate concerns, leading to important implications for policy. |
| Keywords: | Behavioral response; Carbon pricing; Climate change; Experiment; Moral licensing. |
| JEL: | Q58 C90 D03 D90 Q50 Q51 |
| Date: | 2024–11–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kud:kucebi:2416 |
| By: | Nadja Dwenger; Ingrid Hoem Sjursen; Jasmin Vietz |
| Abstract: | Many societies aim to design policies based on meritocratic fairness, which involves two principles: (i) paying individuals with equal performance equally (fair equality) and (ii) paying individuals with higher performance more (fair inequality). Yet, often it is impossible to respect both simultaneously. This paper provides novel evidence on the importance individuals attach to each principle from a large-scale experiment in the United States. We document large heterogeneity in preferences. Individuals incur substantial personal costs to implement their preferred principle. Republican supporters are more likely to prefer fair inequality. The findings offer insights into the political economy of redistribution and public policy design. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11289 |
| By: | Pietro Battiston; Simona Gamba; Sharon G. Harrison |
| Abstract: | We run an experiment where subjects play a standard repeated two player public good game looking at the effect of being matched to a subject with different endowment — and keeping fixed the overall distribution of endowments. Unlike most of the existing literature, all subjects are aware of the existing heterogeneity in endowments, regardless of whether they are assigned to a financially homogeneous or heterogeneous group. Moreover, since in modern societies financial heterogeneity typically correlates with many other forms of heterogeneity, including habits, tastes and membership in given social groups, we look at how financial heterogeneity interacts with in–group vs. out–group feeling, using randomly formed groups. While neither economic integration nor group membership alone significantly affects overall contributions, and hence welfare, the two strongly interact: being matched to a partner with a different endowment and from the other group results in particularly low contributions. Similarly, being matched to a partner who is from the other group and has low endowment results in particularly low contributions. |
| Keywords: | public good game, economic segregation, in-group effect, laboratory experiment |
| JEL: | H41 C92 D31 |
| Date: | 2024–11–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2024/318 |
| By: | Salman Asim; Stefan Dercon; Ravinder Gera Casley; Donna Harris |
| Abstract: | Evidence from high-income countries suggests that the quality of school leadership has measurable impacts on teacher behaviors and student learning achievement. However, there is a lack of rigorous evidence in low-income contexts, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study tests the impact on student progression and test scores of a two-year, multi-phase intervention to strengthen leadership skills for head teachers, deputy head teachers, and sub-district education officials. The intervention consists of two phases of classroom training along with follow-up visits, implemented over two years. It focuses on skills related to making more efficient use of resources; motivating and incentivizing teachers to improve performance; and curating a culture in which students and teachers are all motivated to strengthen learning. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in 1, 198 schools in all districts of Malawi, providing evidence of the impact of the intervention at scale. The findings show that the intervention improved student test scores by 0.1 standard deviations, equivalent to around eight weeks of additional learning, as well as improving progression rates. The outcomes were achieved primarily as a result of improvements in the provision of remedial classes. |
| Keywords: | Education Quality; Primary School; Education Policy; Field Experiment |
| JEL: | I21 I28 C93 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2024-05 |
| By: | Danzer, Alexander M. (Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt); Zeidler, Helen (Technical University of Munich) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates time inconsistencies in food consumption based on a field experiment at a college canteen where participants repeatedly select and consume lunch menus. The design features a convex non-monetary budget in a natural environment and satisfies the consume-on-receipt assumption. Leveraging 3, 666 choices of different food healthiness, we find no time inconsistency at the meal level. Utility weight estimates at the dish level reveal that consumers balance healthiness between food categories. Individuals who exert self-control take up a commitment device as soon as available, while non-committers are present-biased. Dynamic inconsistencies in food and money choices are independent. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, dynamic inconsistency, commitment, food consumption |
| JEL: | D12 D01 C93 D91 I12 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17415 |
| By: | Busso, Matías; Alfonso, Mariana; Ñopo, Hugo R.; Rivera Bianchi, Antonella Maria; Yentzen, Triana |
| Abstract: | Education systems seeking to improve outcomes must attract, develop, and retain highly effective teachers. A critical challenge is making the teaching profession appealing to talented youth. This paper presents evidence from an experiment in Peru, where we provided high school seniors with information about recent reforms to the teaching career. Wefi nd positive effects on both the extensive and intensive margins: treated students were more likely to enroll in higher education and to choose an education major. These results suggest that career incentives and information can shape not only the current teaching workforce but also future cohorts. |
| Keywords: | Civil Service Reform;Education policy;Teachers;Information Treatment;Randomized Control Trial |
| JEL: | I28 I23 J40 O10 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13821 |
| By: | Ronak Jain; Vatsal Khandelwal |
| Abstract: | Inaccurate beliefs about social norms can reduce useful social interactions and adversely affect an individual’s ability to deal with negative shocks. We implement a randomized controlled trial with low-income workers in urban India who lack access to formal financial and healthcare support. We find that the majority of individuals underestimate their community’s willingness to engage in dialogue around financial and mental health concerns. Belief correction leads to a large increase in the demand for network-based assistance. We show that the effects are driven by a reduction in the perceived costs of violating social norms arising due to concerns around reputation and insensitivity. We structurally estimate a network diffusion model and predict that our belief correction intervention will not lead to a shift in equilibrium engagement. Consistent with this, 2 years later, we find that the average beliefs of those exposed to the intervention are significantly more optimistic but still lower than the information delivered in the experiment. We compute the strength of counterfactual interventions needed to generate a sustained effect and find that belief correction can be used to generate both the demand and funding for such policies. |
| Keywords: | Social networks; social norms; beliefs; risk sharing; Mental health |
| JEL: | C93 D83 D91 I12 I31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2024-06 |
| By: | Ronak Jain; Vatsal Khandelwal |
| Abstract: | Inaccurate beliefs about social norms can reduce useful social interactions and adversely affect an individual’s ability to deal with negative shocks. We implement a randomized controlled trial with low-income workers in urban India who lack access to formal financial and healthcare support. We find that the majority of individuals underestimate their community’s willingness to engage in dialogue around financial and mental health concerns. Belief correction leads to a large increase in the demand for network-based assistance. We show that the effects are driven by a reduction in the perceived costs of violating social norms arising due to concerns around reputation and insensitivity. We structurally estimate a network diffusion model and predict that our belief correction intervention will not lead to a shift in equilibrium engagement. Consistent with this, 2 years later, we find that the average beliefs of those exposed to the intervention are significantly more optimistic but still lower than the information delivered in the experiment. We compute the strength of counterfactual interventions needed to generate a sustained effect and find that belief correction can be used to generate both the demand and funding for such policies. |
| Keywords: | Social networks, social norms, beliefs, risk sharing, mental health |
| JEL: | C93 D83 D91 I12 I31 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:455 |
| By: | Cullen, Claire; Sarthak, Josh (University of Warwick); Vecci, Joseph (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Talbot-Jones, Julia (School of Government, Te HerengaWaka - Victoria University ofWellington,) |
| Abstract: | Public spending on gender equality and women’s empowerment is rising rapidly in many countries. However, the unintended consequences of women’s empowerment is rarely measured and remains poorly understood. We study the impact of female empowerment programs on male backlash through a series of experiments involving 1, 007 households in rural India. The paper has four key parts. First, we use an experiment to measure backlash, observing men’s decisions to financially penalize women who participated in empowerment programs.We find that men pay to punish empowered women at double the rate of women in an otherwise identical control group (17 percent versus 8 percent). We also show that men engaging in backlash tend to hold more conservative gender attitudes and are more likely to accept or commit intimate partner violence. Second, we test multiple theories on the conditions that trigger backlash and find that backlash occurs regardless of how women become empowered. Third, we examine social image concerns as a potential behavioral mechanism and find that 18 percent of men are willing to pay to conceal their household’s involvement in empowerment programs. Those who choose to conceal are more likely to engage in backlash, suggesting that reputational concerns play a key role in driving this behavior. Finally, we test several policies to reduce backlash and find that reframing empowerment programs to emphasize broader community benefits can help mitigate backlash. |
| Keywords: | Male Backlash; Female Empowerment; Social Image; Norms; Experiments |
| JEL: | C93 J12 J16 O12 |
| Date: | 2024–11–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0849 |
| By: | James Bono; Alec Xu |
| Abstract: | As generative AI (GAI) tools become increasingly integrated into workplace environments, it is essential to measure their impact on productivity across specific domains. This study evaluates the effects of Microsoft's Security Copilot ("Copilot") on information technology administrators ("IT admins") through randomized controlled trials. Participants were divided into treatment and control groups, with the former granted access to Copilot within Microsoft's Entra and Intune admin centers. Across three IT admin scenarios - sign-in troubleshooting, device policy management, and device troubleshooting - Copilot users demonstrated substantial improvements in both accuracy and speed. Across all scenarios and tasks, Copilot subjects experienced a 34.53% improvement in overall accuracy and a 29.79% reduction in task completion time. We also find that the productivity benefits vary by task type, with more complex tasks showing greater improvement. In free response tasks, Copilot users identified 146.07% more relevant facts and reduced task completion time by 61.14%. Subject satisfaction with Copilot was high, with participants reporting reduced effort and a strong preference for using the tool in future tasks. These findings suggest that GAI tools like Copilot can significantly enhance the productivity and efficiency of IT admins, especially in scenarios requiring information synthesis and complex decision-making. |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2411.01067 |
| By: | Bortolotti, Stefania (University of Bologna); Loviglio, Annalisa (University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of a personalized mentoring program on university enrollment choices and academic outcomes. Conducting a randomized controlled trial among 337 high school students, we find that the program significantly influences students' decisions. The likelihood of choosing a field aligned with their mentor increases by 14 to 22 percentage points, depending on the sample and specification, representing a 25% to 45% increase from the baseline. Notably, the program also shifts preferences towards STEM/Economics fields, potentially enhancing prospective wages by 3.1- 3.7%. Using administrative data, we confirm the validity of survey-based evidence and show that the intervention does not negatively impact university performance, even though treated students enroll in more competitive fields. |
| Keywords: | mentoring, university choices, RCT |
| JEL: | C93 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17417 |
| By: | Cettolin, Elena (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management); Cole, Kym; Dalton, Patricio (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management) |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:d9fa5424-4f53-4e02-8cb2-cb4f98c148c9 |
| By: | Athey, Susan (Stanford U); Palikot, Emil (?) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the labor market value of credentials obtained from Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and shared on business networking platforms. We conducted a randomized experiment involving more than 800, 000 learners, primarily from developing countries and without college degrees, who completed technology or business-related courses on the Coursera platform between September 2022 and March 2023. The intervention targeted learners who had recently completed their courses, encouraging them to share their credentials and simplifying the sharing process. One year after the intervention, we collected data from LinkedIn profiles of approximately 40, 000 experimental subjects. We find that the intervention leads to an increase of 17 percentage points for credential sharing. Further, learners in the treatment group were 6\% more likely to report new employment within a year, with an 8\% increase in jobs related to their certificates. This effect was more pronounced among LinkedIn users with lower baseline employability. Across the entire sample, the treated group received a higher number of certificate views, indicating an increased interest in their profiles. These results suggest that facilitating credential sharing and reminding learners of the value of skill signaling can yield significant gains. When the experiment is viewed as an encouragement design for credential sharing, we can estimate the local average treatment effect (LATE) of credential sharing (that is, the impact of credential sharing on the workers induced to share by the intervention) for the outcome of getting a job. The LATE estimates are imprecise but large in magnitude; they suggest that credential sharing more than doubles the baseline probability of getting a new job in scope for the credential. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:4189 |
| By: | Barak, Ronen E.; Aharon, Itzhak; Hatzor, Limor |
| Abstract: | The accruals anomaly, a well-documented financial phenomenon lacking a comprehensive scientific explanation, is addressed in this study through the proposition of a novel behavioral theory. The theory centers around the concept of a cross-modality anchoring bias, wherein the mental anchor is the magnitude of operating income, modified by the intensity of discretionary accounting accruals. This anchoring effect distorts the distribution of future cash flows used in valuation processes, potentially explaining the anomaly's persistence and robustness. To test this theory, an experiment was conducted, involving participants with suitable financial knowledge and varying levels of practical experience. The experimental results support the presence of the cross-modality anchoring effect, as estimated future cash flows differed significantly across accruals categories, despite being drawn from the same distribution. The magnitude of the bias was influenced by the level of practical financial experience and gender, with women exhibiting lower susceptibility to the interdimensional anchor. |
| Keywords: | accruals anomaly, anchoring bias, cross-modality anchor, valuation, accounting conventions |
| JEL: | G41 G12 M41 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:306142 |
| By: | Sandro Ambuehl; Heidi C. Thysen |
| Abstract: | Good decision-making requires understanding the causal impact of our actions. Often, we only have access to correlational data that could stem from multiple causal mechanisms with divergent implications for choice. Our experiments comprehensively characterize choice when subjects face conflicting causal interpretations of such data. Behavior primarily reflects three types: following interpretations that make attractive promises, choosing cautiously, and assessing the fit of interpretations to the data. We characterize properties of interpretations that obscure bad fit to subjects. Preferences for more complex models are more common than those reflecting Occam’s razor. Implications extend to the Causal Narratives and Model Persuasion literatures. |
| Keywords: | Decision-making, causal mechanisms, causal narratives, model persuasion, causal interpretations |
| JEL: | C91 D01 D83 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:458 |
| By: | Banerjee, Rakesh (University of Exeter); Bharati, Tushar (University of Western Australia Business School); Fakir, Adnan (University of Sussex); Qian, Yiwei (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics); Sunder, Naveen (Bentley University) |
| Abstract: | We conduct an experiment on a major international online freelancing labor market platform to study the impact of greater flexibility in choosing work hours within a day on female participation. We post identical job advertisements (for 320 jobs) covering a wide range of tasks (80 distinct tasks) that differ only in flexibility and the wage offered. Comparing the numbers of applicants for these jobs, we find that while both men and women prefer flexibility, the elasticity of response for women is twice that for the men. Flexible jobs receive 24 percent more female applications and 12 percent more male applications compared to inflexible jobs. Critically, these changes come at no cost to the quality of applications. In fact, we find suggestive evidence that flexible jobs attract higher quality female candidates. Our findings have important implications for explaining gender differences in labor market outcomes and for equity initiatives in firms. |
| Keywords: | workplace flexibility, online freelancing jobs, female labor force participation |
| JEL: | J22 O14 J16 L86 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17434 |
| By: | L. Becchetti; I.M. Buso; L. Corazzini; V. Pelligra |
| Abstract: | Drawing from the psychological literature, we define generativity as the preference for the empowering impact of an agent's actions on others' prosociality. We experimentally test its role in determining subjects' choices and welfare by using several variants of the dictator game that either increase the number of direct recipients, implement a generative scenario in which the dictator gives money to a direct intermediate recipient who, in turn, has the opportunity to pass a fraction of this amount to an indirect final beneficiary, or provide the dictator with the option to choose between participating in a standard one-recipient dictator game and entering the generative scenario. Consistent with the concept of generativity, we find that the amount given by the dictator increases with the number of recipients, regardless of whether they benefit directly or indirectly (through the intervention of an intermediate recipient) from the transfer. We also show that the dictator strongly prefers to self-select into the generative scenario, and in this setting, gives an amount that positively depends on how much one expects the intermediate recipient to pass to the indirect final beneficiary. However, we also document a tendency for the intermediate recipient to deliberately embezzle part of the dictator's giving, passing on less than expected by the initial donor, which generates negative effects on the welfare of the indirect final beneficiary. |
| Keywords: | generativity;extended dictator game;Laboratory Experiment |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cns:cnscwp:202423 |
| By: | Athey, Susan (Stanford U); Byambadalai, Undral (CyberAgent, Inc); Cersosimo, Matias (Instacart); Koutout, Kristine (Stanford U); Nath, Shanjukta (U of Georgia) |
| Abstract: | When choosing whether and how much to donate, potential donors often observe a set of default donation amounts known as an “ask string.†In an experiment with more than 400, 000 PayPal users, we replace a relatively unused donation amount ($75) on PayPal’s Giving Fund Website ask string with either a lower ($10) or a higher ($200) reference point to evaluate the impact on charitable giving. Relative to the status quo, we find that a higher reference point increases the total amount of money raised, while the lower reference point increases the number of donors, two objectives important to non-profits. Both interventions drive more people to choose a default amount compared to the status quo, where the alternatives are not donating or writing in an amount. Examining treatment effect heterogeneity and changes in the distribution of donations, we provide suggestive evidence about the mechanisms. We use data-driven machine learning methods to learn personalized policies that identify who should be shown the lower versus higher reference point. Personalization can increase the probability of choosing a default amount, and it can also alleviate the trade-off to non-profits between the total amount of money raised and the number of donors. |
| JEL: | C93 D90 M31 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:4190 |
| By: | Shanker, Ankit; Vlaev, Ivo |
| Abstract: | Abstract This study examines the impact of social versus algorithmic corrections of vaccine misinformation on social media, on the perceptions of social norms around vaccination and vaccine intentions during a hypothetical pandemic. In an online experiment with 720 participants, we assessed whether user-generated or algorithmically generated corrections influenced perception of social norms measured as beliefs about other’s vaccination intentions (empirical expectations about vaccination), perception about the social appropriateness of vaccine refusal (normative expectations), and beliefs about others' perceptions of vaccine safety (second-order normative beliefs), and own vaccine intentions. User-generated corrections significantly increased the perceptions that refusing vaccination is socially very inappropriate and increased the perception that consensus is in support of vaccine safety. Algorithmic corrections did not influence social norm perceptions. Interestingly, neither social nor algorithmic corrections significantly altered empirical expectations about others' vaccination intentions. Both corrections also helped maintain participants' high initial vaccine intentions with algorithmic correction having stronger effects, in contrast to a significant decline in intentions observed in the control group exposed to misinformation without corrections. Algorithmic corrections from credible health agencies were effective in sustaining vaccine intentions, while user-generated corrections were more influential in improving perceptions of social norms. The study suggests that different correction types influence distinct determinants of vaccination behaviour: user-generated corrections reshape perceived social norms, while algorithmic corrections, citing credible sources, may better sustain high vaccine intentions. Keywords: Misinformation Corrections, Perceived Social Norms, Vaccine Intentions, Vaccine Misinformation, Social Corrections, Algorithmic Correction. |
| Date: | 2024–10–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:ahq26 |
| By: | Wendt, Charlotte; Kosin, Dominick; Adam, Martin; Benlian, Alexander |
| Abstract: | The growing adoption of smart meters enables the measurement of households' energy consumption, influenced not solely by building characteristics such as thermal insulation but also by residents' behavioural patterns, such as heating and ventilation practices. To motivate residents to adopt more sustainable behaviours, user interfaces on smartphones and laptops are increasingly using consumption data from households' smart meters to enable effective goal‐setting. In contrast to previous research largely focusing on goal‐setting in isolation, this study examines the role of specific social comparison‐related design features that future research and practitioners can consider along with goal‐setting to stimulate sustainable behaviours. Specifically, we look into the influence of residents' perception of their relative performance (i.e., whether their behaviour was better or worse than a reference group) on their ambition to act (i.e., targeted improvement goal) and their actual energy consumption behaviour. Moreover, we investigate the influence of a goal's evaluative standard (i.e., whether the goal refers to one's own or other's performance) on the relationship between relative performance, ambition to act, and energy consumption behaviour. Drawing on social comparison theory, we conducted a framed field experiment with 152 households. We find that a goal's evaluative standard influences residents' awareness of their relative performance, affecting their ambition to act and, ultimately, their energy consumption behaviour. More specifically, we find that whereas other‐ (vs. self‐) referencing goals encourage residents from worse‐than‐average performing households more strongly to improve their energy consumption behaviour, they discourage better‐than‐average ones. Overall, our study provides novel insights into the interplay between relative performance and evaluative standards as a means of fostering social comparison in smart meter‐facilitated goal‐setting, highlighting their crucial role in effectively supporting sustainable behaviours. |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:150457 |
| By: | Crick Lund; Kate Orkin; Marc Witte; John Walker; Thandi Davies; Johannes Haushofer; Sarah Murray; Judy Bass; Laura Murray; Wietse Tol; Vikra, Patel |
| Abstract: | Mental health conditions are prevalent but rarely treated in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Little is known about how these conditions affect economic participation. This paper shows that treating mental health conditions substantially improves recipients’ capacity to work in these contexts. First, we perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) ever conducted that evaluate treatments for mental ill-health and measure economic outcomes in LMICs. On average, treating common mental disorders like depression with psychotherapy improves an aggregate of labor market outcomes made up of employment, time spent working, capacity to work and job search by 0.16 standard deviations. Treating severe mental disorders, like schizophrenia, improves the aggregate by 0.30 standard deviations, but effects are noisily estimated. Second, we build a new dataset, pooling all available microdata from RCTs using the most common trial design: studies of psychotherapy in LMICs that treated depression and measured days participants were unable to work in the past month. We observe comparable treatment effects on mental health and work outcomes in this sub-sample of highly similar studies. We also show evidence consistent with mental health being the mechanism through which psychotherapy improves work outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Labour; Development; Human capital; mental health; psychotherapy |
| JEL: | D90 I14 O10 J24 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2024-03 |
| By: | Rivera, Eduardo (MIT); Seira, Enrique (MSU); Jha, Saumitra (Stanford U) |
| Abstract: | Democratic values are eroding just as citizens perceive increasing corruption, with numerous cases implicating the highest-level politicians. Could perceived increases in apex corruption be weakening democracy? We first present event study analyses of more than 170 high-profile corruption scandals involving some of the most prominent politicians in 17 Latin American countries. We show that in the aftermath of such apex corruption scandals, support for democracy falls by 0.07ð ‘ ð ‘‘, support for authoritarianism rises by 11% and violent protests rise by 70%. We complement these results with a field experiment in Mexico. Randomized exposure to footage of apex corruption scandals, particularly implicating politicians known for their anticorruption platforms, decreases individuals’ support for democracy by 0.15ð ‘ ð ‘‘, willingness to trust politicians and neighbors in incentivized games by 18% and 11%, volunteering as election observers by 45%, and actual voter turnout by about 5ð ‘ ð ‘ , while raising stealing from local mayors by 4%. The undermining of democratic values produces latent effects that even cumulate four months later. Seeking solutions, priming national identity proved an unsuccessful antidote, but providing exposure to national stock index funds holds some promise. |
| JEL: | C72 C93 D02 D72 D73 D91 K42 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:4166 |
| By: | Somers, Melline (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Health, skills and inequality); Stolp, Tom (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, ROA / Education and transition to work); Burato, Francesca; Groot, Wim (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MGSoG, RS: CAPHRI - R2 - Creating Value-Based Health Care, Health Services Research); van Merode, Frits (Faculteit FHML Centraal, RS: CAPHRI - R2 - Creating Value-Based Health Care); Vooren, Melvin |
| Abstract: | The healthcare and education sectors suffer from shortages of nurses and teachers. Extending their working hours has often been proposed as a solution to this. In this study, we conduct a discrete choice experiment (DCE) in the Netherlands to elicit nurses’ and teachers’ preferences for different jobs and working conditions. We present both nurses and teachers with nine hypothetical choice sets, each consisting of two jobs that differ in seven observable job attributes. From the DCE, we infer workers’ willingness to pay for these different job characteristics. Moreover, we calculate how many additional hours workers would be willing to work if a specific workplace condition were met. We find that both nurses and teachers most negatively value high work pressure. Spending a lot of time on patient-related tasks is highly valued by nurses, followed by having more control over working hours. Next to work pressure, teachers place significant importance on receiving social support from both colleagues and managers. Nurses and teachers who work part-time require higher incentives to work additional hours compared to full-time workers. |
| JEL: | J45 J81 J20 J30 I10 I20 |
| Date: | 2024–11–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:umagsb:2024014 |
| By: | Stefan Dercon; Kate Orkin; Mahreen Mahmud; Robert Garlick; Johannes Haushofer; Richard Sedlmayr |
| Abstract: | How do aspirations influence investment decisions for people living in poverty? Does this change as peoples economic conditions improve? To answer these questions, we design a work¬shop teaching techniques to raise aspirations and plan to achieve them. We cross-randomise this with large unconditional cash transfers in a 415-village, 8, 300-person, 1.5-year experiment in Kenya. The workshop substantially raises aspirations, investment, and living standards. But the workshop+cash produces similar effects to cash alone, potentially because cash raises aspirations. Thus, helping people living in poverty set higher aspirations can raise investment and living standards, but improving economic conditions can activate the same process. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2023-12 |
| By: | Rosa Abraham; Nishat Anjum; Rahul Lahoti; Hema Swaminathan |
| Abstract: | Drawing from two labour market experiments in rural India, we offer insights on the influence of survey design on the measurement of employment. The first experiment contrasts self-reported estimates of employment with proxy-reported estimates from spouses. We find that employment estimates based on reports by men underestimate women's employment by six percentage points compared to estimates from women themselves. There are significant differences in the types of employment activities reported by self and proxy. |
| Keywords: | Survey, Gender, Labour force participation, India, Household survey, Survey data |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2024-64 |
| By: | Bitton, Gal; Treger, Clareta |
| Abstract: | Affective polarization—interpersonal animus between political rivals—is a growing global concern. Existing research shows it affects a-political domains, influencing residential, relational, financial, and labor market choices. This study explores whether political rivalry in a polarized era spills over to another non-partisan domain: welfare provision. We examine whether political biases shape perceptions of welfare deservingness, typically guided by effort cues and political ideology. Using the Israeli 2023 judicial reform crisis as a case study, we conducted a pre-registered experiment among Israelis, manipulating the effort cues and political affiliations of hypothetical welfare recipients. We find that while motivated recipients are generally seen as more deserving, political biases significantly skew these evaluations. Out-group recipients are viewed as less deserving than in-group members. Additionally, motivation bears a higher reward for recipients absent political cues, as compared to both in- and out-group motivated recipients. The study highlights the societal risks of escalating political divisions. |
| Date: | 2024–10–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:upqs8 |
| By: | FAN, Yizhou (Hiroshima University); Nakao, Ran (Ehime University); HAYASHIKAWA, Yuki |
| Abstract: | This study proposed a strategy for causal identification in survey experiments by leveraging heteroscedasticity induced through information provision (Z). Here, Z affects attitudes (D), which in turn influences behavior (Y). While Z might traditionally serve as an instrumental variable (IV), a direct effect from Z to the outcome variable (Y) would invalidate it as an IV due to exclusion restriction violations. Building on prior methods, such as Lewbel’s IV approach, which utilize naturally occurring heteroscedasticity in observational data, this study explored the artificial induction of heteroscedasticity within survey experiments. We developed a new unbiased estimator within linear structural model and conducted simulations to confirm that this new estimator outperforms conventional IV estimators. We further addressed the issue of endogenous non-compliance, and discussed that under the homogeneous function assumption, manipulating information ambiguity can yield a consistent bias-corrected estimator. This approach can enhance the possibility of causal identification by survey experiments and extend heteroscedasticity-based methodologies to complex compliance contexts, offering new tools for robust experimental design. |
| Date: | 2024–10–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:yecm2 |
| By: | Stephen O’Connell; Onur Altındağ; Rim Achour |
| Abstract: | We examine how allocating a fixed social assistance budget across localities using different prioritization rules affects both beneficiary selection and program effectiveness. By simulating each rule, we estimate program effects among marginal beneficiaries—those whose assistance varies across targeting strategies. The program reduces economic deprivation, with effect sizes ranging from 0.02 to 0.21 standard deviations. There are marked differences in the demographic backgrounds and economic constraints among marginal beneficiary populations, but program effects do not change substantially across targeting arms. We document sizable geographic variation in program effects, but limited ability to predict effectiveness using data typically available to implementers. |
| Keywords: | antipoverty programs, forced displacement, lebanon., poverty measurement, poverty targeting, refugees, social protection, unconditional cash transfers |
| JEL: | D74 I32 I38 O12 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:418 |
| By: | Jean-Pierre Aubry; Alicia H. Munnell; Gal Wettstein |
| Abstract: | Writing a will can improve the transmission of wealth across generations, by preventing the dissipation of assets such as a family home when divided among multiple heirs, as well as, potentially, by focusing the mind of donors on their legacy and promoting savings. However, many individuals do not have a will, a particularly common situation among Black and lower socioeconomic status individuals. This paper reports on a randomized control trial testing whether the occasion of getting a mortgage might be an opportune time to encourage individuals to write a will. The findings are that the mortgage setting is already overwhelming for many individuals and is not a good time for additional bureaucratic burdens. This is particularly true for Black and less financially-sophisticated individuals. Furthermore, offering modest monetary incentives to write a will is suggestively effective, but mostly for those individuals who have little need of a will and are most sophisticated in their thinking about it. Thus, the findings suggest that the setting of when to approach individuals about writing a will is extremely important and that such overtures are most likely to succeed in contexts where individuals are not overly preoccupied with more immediate concerns. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2023-27 |
| By: | Mohsen Bayati; Yuwei Luo; William Overman; Sadegh Shirani; Ruoxuan Xiong |
| Abstract: | Accurate estimation of treatment effects is essential for decision-making across various scientific fields. This task, however, becomes challenging in areas like social sciences and online marketplaces, where treating one experimental unit can influence outcomes for others through direct or indirect interactions. Such interference can lead to biased treatment effect estimates, particularly when the structure of these interactions is unknown. We address this challenge by introducing a new class of estimators based on causal message-passing, specifically designed for settings with pervasive, unknown interference. Our estimator draws on information from the sample mean and variance of unit outcomes and treatments over time, enabling efficient use of observed data to estimate the evolution of the system state. Concretely, we construct non-linear features from the moments of unit outcomes and treatments and then learn a function that maps these features to future mean and variance of unit outcomes. This allows for the estimation of the treatment effect over time. Extensive simulations across multiple domains, using synthetic and real network data, demonstrate the efficacy of our approach in estimating total treatment effect dynamics, even in cases where interference exhibits non-monotonic behavior in the probability of treatment. |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2411.00945 |
| By: | Mitchell Linegar; Betsy Sinclair; Sander van der Linden; R. Michael Alvarez |
| Abstract: | Large Language Models (LLMs) can assist in the prebunking of election misinformation. Using results from a preregistered two-wave experimental study of 4, 293 U.S. registered voters conducted in August 2024, we show that LLM-assisted prebunking significantly reduced belief in specific election myths, with these effects persisting for at least one week. Confidence in election integrity was also increased post-treatment. Notably, the effect was consistent across partisan lines, even when controlling for demographic and attitudinal factors like conspiratorial thinking. LLM-assisted prebunking is a promising tool for rapidly responding to changing election misinformation narratives. |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2410.19202 |
| By: | Carlos Alós-Ferrer; Ernst Fehr; Helga Fehr-Duda; Michele Garagnani |
| Abstract: | Recent contributions suggest that the empirical evidence for the common ratio effect could be explained as noise instead of underlying preferences under “common assumptions.” We revisit this argument using a more general method which allows to unambiguously dis- tinguish noise from preferences nonparametrically and with less stringent assumptions. The results are independent of the assumed behavioral model or how noise affects choices. Ap- plying this method to new experimental data we show that there is a systematic preference for the common ratio and the common consequence effects which cannot be explained by noise. |
| JEL: | C91 D81 D91 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:459 |
| By: | Lukas Hensel; Kate Orkin; Andrea Kiss; Robert Garlick |
| Abstract: | Worker sorting into tasks and occupations has long been recognized as an impor¬tant feature of labor markets. But this sorting may be inefficient if jobseekers have inaccurate beliefs about their skills and therefore apply to jobs that do not match their skills. To test this idea, we measure young South African jobseekers’ communication and numeracy skills and their beliefs about their skill levels. Many jobseekers be¬lieve they are better at the skill in which they score lower, relative to other jobseekers. These beliefs predict the skill requirements of jobs where they apply. In two field ex¬periments, giving jobseekers their skill assessment results shifts their beliefs toward their assessment results. It also redirects their search toward jobs that value the skill in which they score relatively higher – using measures from administrative, incentivized task, and survey data – but does not increase total search effort. It also raises earnings and job quality, consistent with inefficient sorting due to limited information. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2023-11 |
| By: | Hofstetter, Reto (U of Lucerne); Lanz, Andreas (U of Basel); Sahni, Navdeep S. (Stanford U) |
| Abstract: | In influencer marketing, the differing incentives of advertisers and influencers necessitate a delicate balance between control and creativity. Investigating this trade-off, we explore the impact of contractual constraints on advertiser outcomes, addressing the empirical challenges posed by the fact that contracts are rarely observed by researchers and are strategically offered by advertisers and selectively accepted by influencers. Our analysis uses a unique dataset comprising a thousand contracts offered by hundreds of brands to thousands of influencers to examine the prevalent advertiser-imposed constraints. We relate this data to information on influencer participation and follower responses, assessing how contractual constraints influence these outcomes. Our findings demonstrate that influencers are significantly averse to contractual constraints, which create a relational cost for them. Additionally, the audiences respond less favorably in terms of the advertiser’s outcomes to content produced under more restrictive conditions, implying a creativity suppression cost borne by the advertiser. A uniquely designed two-stage field experiment shows that the creativity suppression cost for advertisers outweighs the relational cost for influencers. Relaxing these constraints allows advertisers to triple their influencer retention rate within the same budget. We highlight the critical need for balancing managerial direction and influencer autonomy in designing influencer marketing campaigns. |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecl:stabus:4184 |