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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Breitkopf, Laura (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods); Chowdhury, Shyamal (Australian National University); Kamhöfer, Daniel A. (University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU)); Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah (Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf); Sutter, Matthias (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) |
| Abstract: | Identifying sensitive periods in which the returns to investments into skills are especially high is challenging, but crucial for an effective and efficient timing of parental or public investments aimed at fostering children’s skills. We can detect sensitive periods with a novel design by implementing the same investment in different school grades and examining grade-specific treatment effects. Based on a randomized controlled trial with more than 3, 200 Bangladeshi children in grades 2 to 5, we find sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience in grade 2 (age 7–8), while prosociality remains similarly malleable throughout grades 2 to 5 (age 7–11). |
| Keywords: | social and emotional learning program, prosociality, patience, self-control, randomized controlled trial, skill formation, sensitive periods, experiments with children, Bangladesh |
| JEL: | C93 D01 D64 J13 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17974 |
| By: | Xiaoyue Shan; Ulf Zölitz; Uschi Backes-Gellner |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of online instruction with a field experiment that randomly assigns 1, 344 university students to different proportions of online and in-person lectures in multiple introductory courses. Increased online instruction leaves men’s exam performance unaffected but significantly lowers women’s performance, particularly in math-intensive courses. Online instruction also reduces women’s longer-run performance and increases their study dropout. Exploring mechanisms, we find that women exposed to more online lectures report greater difficulty in connecting with peers, less engaging instructors, and lower course satisfaction. Our findings suggest that shifting toward more online instruction may disproportionally harm women. |
| Keywords: | Online instruction, field experiment, gender disparities |
| JEL: | J16 I23 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:474 |
| By: | Lohmann, Paul M.; Gsottbauer, Elisabeth; Gravert, Christina; Reisch, Lucia A. |
| Abstract: | Understanding when and why nudges work is crucial for designing interventions that consistently and reliably change behaviour. This paper explores the relationship between decision-making speed and the effectiveness of two nudges – carbon footprint labelling and menu repositioning – aimed at encouraging climate-friendly food choices. Using an incentivized online randomized controlled trial with a quasi-representative sample of British consumers (N = 3, 052) ordering meals through an experimental food-delivery platform, we introduced a time-pressure mechanism to capture both fast and slow decision-making processes. Our findings suggest that menu repositioning is an effective tool for promoting climate-friendly choices when decisions are made quickly, though the effect fades when subjects have time to revise their choices. Carbon labels, in contrast, showed minimal impact overall but reduced emissions among highly educated and climate-conscious individuals when they made fast decisions. The results imply that choice architects should apply both interventions in contexts where consumers make fast decisions, such as digital platforms, canteens, or fast-food restaurants to help mitigate climate externalities. More broadly, our findings suggest that the available decision time in different contexts might at least partly explain differences in effect sizes found in previous studies of these nudges. |
| Keywords: | carbon-footprint labelling; choice architecture; dual-process models; food-delivery apps; low-carbon diets; system 1 |
| JEL: | C90 I18 D90 Q18 Q50 |
| Date: | 2025–06–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128667 |
| By: | Hirofumi Kurokawa (School of Economics, Kwansei Gakuin University); Hiroko Okudaira (Business School, Doshisha University); Yusuke Kinari (Hirao School of Management, Konan University); Fumio Ohtake (Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research, The University of Osaka) |
| Abstract: | Gender gaps in willingness to compete are widely recognized as a key factor contributing to disparities in labor market outcomes. While much attention has been paid to gender identity, individuals also belong to social groups that influence how they engage in competitive environments. The decision to compete often occurs within complex identity contexts, yet the combined effect of gender and group identity on competitive behavior remains less well understood. This study investigates how group identity shapes tournament entry decisions in mixed-gender environments. We conducted a laboratory experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to minimal groups and then paired with an opposite-gender partner. They were informed that their opponent was either from the same group (ingroup), a different group (outgroup), or received no group information (control). Participants completed a real-effort task and then chose between non-competitive and competitive payment schemes. The results showed that participants—particularly men—were less likely to choose the competitive option when facing an ingroup opponent. In contrast, women were slightly more likely to compete against outgroup opponents. While previous research has suggested that men may be more willing to compete to elevate their social status within a group, our findings reveal the opposite pattern when the ingroup opponent is female. These findings suggest that the interaction between gender and group identity can produce nuanced, non-additive effects on competitive behavior. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness, gender identity, group identity, multiple identities |
| JEL: | C91 C92 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kgu:wpaper:295 |
| By: | Blesse, Sebastian; Buhlmann, Florian; Heil, Philipp; Rostam-Afschar, Davud |
| Abstract: | We study firm responses to local policies through a survey experiment, providing randomized information on the competitiveness of business tax rates and highway access in their headquarters' municipality. Firms often misperceive local policy competitiveness, especially for tax rates. Investment decisions respond asymmetrically to tax competitiveness. Positive tax rank information reduces investment intentions in neighboring municipalities. Compared to this, negative tax news increase relocation plans. However, most firms receiving bad news plan to continue investing in their headquarters' municipality, indicating home bias. These effects are strongest for mobile firms and corporations. Negative infrastructure news lower location satisfaction but do not influence investment. |
| Keywords: | tax competition, infrastructure, firm location, survey experiment |
| JEL: | H25 H32 H71 H72 H73 L21 R38 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:319894 |
| By: | Witte, Marc J. (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Roth, Johanna (Sciences Po); Hardy, Morgan (New York University, Abu Dhabi); Meyer, Christian Johannes (University of Oxford) |
| Abstract: | We present findings from an at-scale randomized trial of a government program providing public employment services in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with up-to-date vacancy information. Before the program, women with relatively less education searched more narrowly with worse labor market outcomes than the rest of our representative sample of relevant job seekers. These women also have lower direct intervention take-up than the rest of the sample. However, only these women significantly increase applications, receive more offers, shift from household enterprise work to wage employment, and experience higher earnings in response to the intervention. These employment impacts are larger than can be explained by vacancies directly curated through the intervention. Instead, these women adjust search behavior, expectations, and employment aspirations more broadly. Notably, offers come through friends and family networks, their modal baseline search method, underscoring the potential role of social networks in disseminating employment information to the most marginalized job seekers. |
| Keywords: | marginalized job seekers, labor market frictions, public employment services, randomized controlled trial (RCT) |
| JEL: | J08 J16 J64 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18005 |
| By: | Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Sahar Sangi (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Competitive environments often leave room for “dirty†practices such as sabotage, retaliation, or dishonesty. We use an online experiment to document aggregate levels and individual differences in the willingness to engage in dirty competition and in the willingness to enter competitions where the opponent may play dirty. We then use the experimental data to validate a set of survey questions that capture willingness to engage in dirty competition above general willingness to compete. We elicit these questions in a representative survey panel and show that willingness to engage in dirty competition is a strong predictor of holding a management or supervisory position and of working in the private – versus the public – sector, but also of worse self-esteem, worse social relationships, and increased feelings of guilt and shame. Men, younger people, and lower-educated people are on average more willing to engage in dirty competition. |
| Keywords: | preferences, personality, sabotage, career choice |
| JEL: | C91 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–02–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20250007 |
| By: | Rocco Zizzamia |
| Abstract: | Searching for jobs often involves repeated rejection. If discouraged searchers reduce search effort in response, this decreases their probability of finding a (good) match, with negative implications for the individual searcher and for the efficiency with which talent is allocated to jobs in general. Using a lab-in-the-field experiment with young workers in South Africa, I examine whether experiencing repeated rejection discourages further search. Participants repeatedly choose between two tasks: a high-return task with frequent feedback containing rejection signals, and a low-return task without immediate rejection feedback. By experimentally varying monetary rewards and rejection exposure, while controlling for learning and risk preferences, I isolate the psychological cost of rejection as a driver of search behaviour. I find that subjects choose to reduce their expected earnings to avoid rejection signals. This behaviour suggests that rejection imposes a psychological cost that motivates active information avoidance and decreases job search. |
| JEL: | D91 J63 J64 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2025-06 |
| By: | Pedro Dal Bó; Guillaume Fréchette |
| Abstract: | An extensive experimental literature has documented miscoordination in establishing cooperative relationships when they can be supported in indefinitely repeated games: some people systematically try to cooperate, while others do not. The literature has had little success in finding personal characteristics that correlate systematically with these behaviors. We show that subjects who play the risky but efficient action in a simple coordination game (i.e., play stag in a stag hunt game) are significantly more likely to cooperate in indefinitely repeated games. This suggests that subjects who are less susceptible to strategic uncertainty are more likely to attempt to establish cooperative relationships. |
| JEL: | C7 C9 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33980 |
| By: | Phùng, Quang Phúc (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management) |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:c4d08433-25ec-44b1-b856-acdaaa6ac629 |
| By: | Darija Barak; Miguel Costa-Gomes |
| Abstract: | As Large Language Models (LLMs) integrate into our social and economic interactions, we need to deepen our understanding of how humans respond to LLMs opponents in strategic settings. We present the results of the first controlled monetarily-incentivised laboratory experiment looking at differences in human behaviour in a multi-player p-beauty contest against other humans and LLMs. We use a within-subject design in order to compare behaviour at the individual level. We show that, in this environment, human subjects choose significantly lower numbers when playing against LLMs than humans, which is mainly driven by the increased prevalence of `zero' Nash-equilibrium choices. This shift is mainly driven by subjects with high strategic reasoning ability. Subjects who play the zero Nash-equilibrium choice motivate their strategy by appealing to perceived LLM's reasoning ability and, unexpectedly, propensity towards cooperation. Our findings provide foundational insights into the multi-player human-LLM interaction in simultaneous choice games, uncover heterogeneities in both subjects' behaviour and beliefs about LLM's play when playing against them, and suggest important implications for mechanism design in mixed human-LLM systems. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.11011 |
| By: | Elisabeth Leduc (Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Ilan Tojerow (Université Libre de Bruxelles) |
| Abstract: | We partner with a Public Employment Service to examine whether jobseekers can be encouraged to reskill for shortage occupations. In a large-scale field experiment involving 100, 000 recently unemployed individuals, we provide information on shortage occupations and related training opportunities. The intervention increased participation in transversal training courses by 6%, but did not boost enrolment in occupational training for shortage jobs. Jobseekers also shifted their search towards high-demand occupations, yet employment remained unchanged. These findings suggest that while low-cost informational interventions can influence job search and training behaviour, different approaches are likely needed to drive substantial reskilling among jobseekers. |
| Keywords: | Unemployment, Job Search, RCT, Occupational Training, Labour Shortages |
| JEL: | J24 J68 |
| Date: | 2025–02–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20250014 |
| By: | Lina S Hansson (Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet [Stockholm]); Arnaud Tognetti (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); E Tavakoli-Berg (Karolinska Institutet [Stockholm], Stockholm University); J M Stache (Stockholm University); M Kakeeto (Stockholm University); J Melin (DPhP - Département de Physique des Particules (ex SPP) - IRFU - Institut de Recherches sur les lois Fondamentales de l'Univers - Université Paris-Saclay - DRF (CEA) - Direction de Recherche Fondamentale (CEA) - CEA - Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, Stockholm University); S Bredin (Stockholm University); R Skarp (Stockholm University, Uppsala University); C Lensmar (Karolinska Institutet [Stockholm]); R Demand (Stockholm University); M J Olsson (Karolinska Institutet [Stockholm]); D B Wilhelms (LIU - Linköping University); R Toll John (LIU - Linköping University); K B Jensen (Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics [Heidelberg] - Universität Heidelberg [Heidelberg] = Heidelberg University); M Lekander (Stockholm University, Karolinska Institutet [Stockholm]); J Lasselin (Stockholm University) |
| Abstract: | Sick humans and other animals often withdraw from social interactions. It has been suggested that social withdrawal might enable avoidance of contagious individuals, but experimental evidence is lacking on how the state of sickness may affect perception of sick others. Here, we investigated if individuals were more likely to rate others as sick, while being sick themselves, compared to when healthy. Furthermore, we assessed if the intensity of the fever response and sickness behavior would predict changes in sickness detection. Thirty-four participants were experimentally made sick using an intravenous injection of the bacterial endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS condition; dose of 1.0 ng/kg body weight) and completed a sickness detection task during the peak of the inflammatory and sickness response. Participants performed the same task when they were healthy (control condition, n = 32), in a randomized order before or after the main study day. In the sickness detection task, participants watched photos of individuals' faces as well as video recordings of the same individuals walking, and rated the individual on each stimulus as sick or healthy. The photos and video recordings were obtained from twenty-two individuals who participated in a previous study, and who were made sick with an intravenous injection of lipopolysaccharide (2.0 ng/kg body weight) on one occasion, and remained healthy after an intravenous injection of a placebo (0.9 % NaCl) on another occasion. Participants could detect sick individuals based on photos and walking patterns above chance level during both the LPS and the control condition. There was no significant difference in how often participants identified sick faces and sick walkers in the LPS condition – when they were sick themselves – compared to in the control condition. However, healthy walkers (but not healthy faces) were more often rated as sick by participants in the LPS condition compared to the control condition. Neither the fever response nor the intensity of sickness behavior predicted changes in sickness detection. The results do not indicate more accurate sickness detection in others during own sickness. Nevertheless, the data from walking patterns indicates that sick individuals may be more prone to categorize healthy individuals as sick. If replicated, this could in speculation be related to a need to reduce the risk of becoming infected while already fighting a pathogen. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05114097 |
| By: | Marta Curull-Sentís; Laia Maynou; Lídia Farré; Libertad González |
| Abstract: | We conduct a survey experiment to examine gender differences in preferences for job attributes, including flexibility, commuting distance, and workplace climate. Both men and women are willing to trade 20–30% of their current wage to avoid inflexible jobs and long commutes. However, a notable gender difference emerges in the willingness-to-pay (WTP) to avoid sexual harassment. Women are willing to trade 50% of their wage for a secure workplace, 14 percentage points more than men. Among recent female victims, this aversion increases to 87%. These findings under-score the detrimental impact of sexual harassment on gender equality and talent allocation in the labor market. |
| Keywords: | compensating wage differentials, gender gaps, sexual harassment, survey experiments, working conditions, working flexibility |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J28 J81 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1500 |
| By: | Sandro Ambuehl; B. Douglas Bernheim; Tony Q. Fan; Zach Freitas-Groff |
| Abstract: | Why is in-kind aid a prominent feature of welfare systems? We present a lab-in-the-field experiment involving members of the general U.S. population and SNAP recipients. After documenting a widespread desire to limit recipients’ choices, we quantify the relative importance of (i) welfarist motives, (ii) utility or disutility derived from curtailing another’s autonomy, and (iii) absolutist attitudes concerning the appropriate form of aid. Choices primarily reflect the two non-welfarist motives. Because people systematically misperceive recipient preferences, their interventions are more restrictive than they intend. Interventionist preferences and non-welfarist motives are more pronounced among the political right, particularly when recipients are black. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:471 |
| By: | Mutsinzi, Fils Jean Pierre |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the boundaries of gender, identity, and truth through a field experiment in which the author, a male foreign student living in India, chose to wear a skirt in public settings throughout the day. Through personal diary reflections, structured qualitative interviews, and different philosophical, sociological, and psychological studies, such as the Mirror stage theory, the Johari Window, Butler's gender performativity, and other scholarly works, this paper analyzes how individuals view themselves and the way society sees and thinks about them. It raises paradoxical questions, such as what is truth? Who creates it? Who guards it? What is moral regulation, how is it constructed, and what happens when a person decides to cross the established social boundaries? The responses I encountered range from silence to criticism, and all become a mirror of how society perceives us through different lenses, just like Buber's' I-Thou' and ‘I-It’ philosophy. Some participants were scared of even seeing me, demonstrating the societal discomfort with gender nonconformity and the collective conditioning to fear what is unfamiliar. The experiment revealed both internal conflict and external tensions, exposing the underlying social discomforts. Through embodied vulnerability, raw testimony, and theoretical reflection, this study reveals that the mirror we fear is not on the wall, but embedded in the gaze of others. I call for a redefinition of truth and freedom, grounded in empathy, humanity, and radical unlearning. |
| Date: | 2025–06–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:nwydk_v1 |
| By: | Buehren, Niklas; Papineni, Sreelakshmi |
| Abstract: | This paper examines implicit gender bias in entrepreneurial financing by randomizing screenings of business investment ideas pitched in the format of the reality television show Chigign Tobiya. Keeping business idea and pitch quality constant, the experiment randomizes whether a female or male entrepreneur delivers the pitch across three different business sectors. The findings suggest that, on average, gender does not affect recommended investment; however, the sector matters. Some sectors attract greater investment than others. Our findings are consistent with discrimination against women in traditionally male-dominated sectors and discrimination against men in female-dominated sectors. Men are perceived as better negotiators and leaders in sectors that attract higher investment. These are also the sectors in which women are typically underrepresented. Exposure to women in leadership positions and information provided during the screenings can increase investment in women’s businesses. |
| Date: | 2025–06–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11152 |
| By: | Abate, Gashaw T.; Bernard, Tanguy; Deutschmann, Joshua; Fall, Fatou |
| Abstract: | Individuals often make decisions considering both private returns and welfare impacts on others. Food safety decisions by smallholder agricultural producers exemplify this choice, particularly in low-income countries where farmers often consume some of the food crops they produce and sell or donate the rest. We conduct a lab-in-the-field experiment with peanuts producers in Senegal to study the decision to invest in food safety information, exogenously varying the degree of private returns (monetary or health-wise) and welfare impacts on others. Producers are willing to pay real money for food safety information even absent the potential for private returns, but willingness to pay increases with the potential for private returns. A randomized information treatment significantly increases willingness to pay in all scenarios. Our results shed light on the complex interplay between altruism and economic decisions in the presence of externalities, and point to the potential of timely and targeted information to address food safety issues. |
| Keywords: | food safety; health; groundnuts; aflatoxins; smallholders; returns; Senegal; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Western Africa |
| Date: | 2025–07–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:175569 |
| By: | Matias Nunez; Danilo Coelho; Carlos Alós-Ferrera; Salvador Barberà |
| Abstract: | Arbitrators for high-stakes conflicts, as well as judges and other officials, are of- ten appointed through structured bargaining protocols. The theoretical literature models these protocols as extensive-form games with perfect information, evaluating them based on the merits of their subgame-perfect equilibria, such as efficiency. However, decision makers often fail to implement backward induction and exhibit other-regarding preferences. In a large experiment, we compare two prominent protocols and show that those concerns affect outcomes. Bargaining protocols whose equilibria are unfair (in a maximin sense) fare poorly compared to those favoring compromises. However, lengthy protocols face limitations because they elicit non-equilibrium behavior. |
| Keywords: | bargaining, fairness, backward induction, Appointment rules |
| JEL: | C78 C92 D63 D74 D82 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1490 |
| By: | Kevin Grieco; Abou Bakarr Kamara; Niccolo F. Meriggi; Julian Michel; Prichard Wilson |
| Abstract: | Building durable fiscal capacity requires that states obtain compliance with their taxes - a persistent challenge for states with low enforcement capacity. One promising option for governments in weak states is to raise voluntary compliance by enhancing governmental legitimacy. This study reports results from a participatory budgeting policy experiment in Sierra Leone designed to increase legitimacy and tax compliance by inviting public par- ticipation in local policy decision-making. In phone-based town halls, participants shared policy preferences with neighbors and local politicians and then voted for public services that were subsequently implemented. We find that the intervention durably increased participants’ perceptions of government legitimacy. However, contrary to influential models of tax compliance, we report a robust null effect on tax compliance behavior. Participants’ partisan affiliation strongly conditions the treatments’ effects on tax compliance and attitudes toward paying taxes: We find large, positive impacts among copartisans of the incumbent government but significant negative impacts among non-copartisans. Our results highlight that the legitimacy gains of participatory interventions may not increase voluntary tax compliance when participation politicizes compliance. |
| Keywords: | fiscal capacity; participatory budgeting; taxation; legitimacy; state building |
| JEL: | H20 D72 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csa:wpaper:2025-05 |
| By: | Duarte, Belmiro P.M.; Atkinson, Anthony C.; Oliveira, Nuno M.C |
| Abstract: | An optimal experimental design represents a structured approach to collecting data with the aim of maximizing the information gleaned. Achieving this requires defining an optimality criterion tailored to the specific model under consideration and the purpose of the investigation. However, it is often observed that a design optimized for one criterion may not perform optimally when applied to another. To mitigate this, one strategy involves employing compound designs. These designs balance multiple criteria to create robust experimental plans that are versatile across different applications. In our study, we systematically tackle the challenge of constructing compound approximate optimal experimental designs using Semidefinite Programming. We focus on discretized design spaces, with the objective function being the geometric or the arithmetic mean of design efficiencies relative to individual criteria. We address two combinations of two criteria: concave-concave (illustrated by DE–optimality) and convex-concave (such as DA–optimality). To handle the latter, we reformulate the problem as a bilevel problem. Here, the outer problem is solved using Surrogate Based Optimization, while the inner problem is addressed with a Semidefinite Programming solver. We demonstrate our formulations using both linear and nonlinear models (for the response) of the Beta class, previously linearized to facilitate analysis and comparison. |
| Keywords: | compound optimal designs; semidefinite programming; concave-concave criteria; convex-concave criteria; surrogate based optimization |
| JEL: | C1 |
| Date: | 2025–07–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128170 |
| By: | Schildberg-Hörisch, Hannah |
| Abstract: | Non-cognitive skills are key predictors of central life outcomes such as educational attainment, earnings and health outcomes. Despite their fundamental importance, we know surprisingly little about how these skills form. This project advances our understanding of the formation of non-cognitive skills in childhood and adolescence. In defining non-cognitive skills, we adopt an interdisciplinary approach that encompasses both economic preferences and personality traits. Skill measurement relies on incentivized experiments and validated survey scales. By combining the collection of four waves of panel data on non-cognitive skills of 3, 000 whole families with a randomized controlled trial, we provide causal evidence on investments as possible drivers of skill formation on top of cutting-edge descriptive evidence. Children in 135 elementary schools in Bangladesh were randomly assigned to participation in the social and emotional learning program Lions Quest (LQ) that is designed to enhance children's non-cognitive skills. Using the model of skill formation as a common underlying theoretical framework, our findings on skill formation between age 6 and 18 include the following: Participation in LQ increases children's self-control and prosociality. Our results indicate sensitive periods in the formation of self-control and patience around ages 7-9; prosociality is similarly malleable throughout ages 7-11. Participation in LQ also increases children's educational attainment, which in part seems to operate through improving LQ teachers' teaching style. Using our panel data, we go beyond previous cross-sectional evidence by studying the dynamic, within individual development of children's preferences over time. We provide first evidence on self productivity and cross-fertilization of children's preferences. We demonstrate that parents' mental health, their parenting style and investments into children are important sources of the substantial heterogeneity in children's preference trajectories. Based on a novel experimental measure of parental paternalism, we show that most parents interfere paternalistically in their children's intertemporal decision-making to (effectively) mitigate their present bias. Finally, our results highlight the importance of the local environment beyond the family for the formation of children's preferences. We find that adverse shocks such as natural catastrophes can reverse the typical age trajectory of patience, challenging the common notion that patience universally increases as children grow. Using spatial autoregressive models and Kriging, we show that models with spatial components explain a considerable part of so far unexplained variation in children's preferences. In sum, our findings promote basic research on the formation of non-cognitive skills and offer advice to parents, teachers and policy makers on how to foster the development of children's skills. |
| Abstract: | Aktuelle Forschung verdeutlicht, dass nicht-kognitive Fähigkeiten starke Vorhersagekraft für zentrale Lebensergebnisse wie Bildungs- und beruflichen Erfolg oder Gesundheit besitzen. Trotz ihrer enormen Bedeutung ist aber weitgehend unerforscht, wie nicht-kognitive Fähigkeiten in Kindheit und Jugend entstehen. Hier setzt unser Projekt an. Die zugrundeliegende Definition nicht-kognitiver Fähigkeiten umfasst dabei sowohl Zeit-, Risiko- und soziale Präferenzen als auch Persönlichkeitseigenschaften, die wir mit incentivierten Experimenten und validierten Fragebogenmaßen messen. Die Kombination aus 4 Wellen Paneldaten zu den nicht-kognitiven Fähigkeiten 3.000 ganzer Familien und einem kontrolliert randomisierten Experiment ermöglicht es, innovative deskriptive und kausale Evidenz zur Rolle von Investitionen für die Herausbildung von nicht-kognitiven Fähigkeiten im Alter von 6 bis 18 Jahren bereitzustellen. Kinder aus 135 Grundschulen in Bangladesch wurden zufällig der Teilnahme am Programm Lions Quest (LQ) zugeordnet, das darauf abzielt, ihre nicht-kognitiven Fähigkeiten zu fördern. Auf der Grundlage des Modells zur Entstehung von Fähigkeiten von Heckman und Koautoren haben wir u.a. folgende Forschungsergebnisse gewonnen: Die Teilnahme an LQ erhöht neben dem Lernerfolg auch die Selbstkontrolle und Prosozialität der Kinder. Das Alter von 7-9 stellt eine sensitive Periode für die Entwicklung von Selbstkontrolle und Geduld dar, während Prosozialität über die gesamte Grundschulzeit hinweg in ähnlichem Ausmaß formbar ist. Die Paneldatenanalyse erlaubt es, jenseits der bisherigen Querschnittsanalysen die dynamische Entwicklung der Präferenzen von Kindern auf individueller Ebene zu untersuchen. So stellen wir erste Evidenz zur Selbstproduktivität und gegenseitigen Förderung von ökonomischen Präferenzen der Kinder bereit. Wir zeigen, dass die mentale Gesundheit der Eltern, ihr Erziehungsstil und ihre Investitionen in ihre Kinder wichtige Ursachen für deren unterschiedliche Präferenzentwicklung sind. Mit Hilfe eines neuen experimentellen Maßes für elterlichen Paternalismus dokumentieren wir, dass die Mehrheit der Eltern in die intertemporalen Entscheidungen ihrer Kinder eingreift, um deren Gegenwartsverzerrung (effektiv) abzumildern. Wir zeigen außerdem, wie wichtig die lokale Umgebung jenseits der Familie für die Präferenzentwicklung der Kinder ist. Negative Shocks wie Naturkatastrophen können das typische Entwicklungsmuster einer mit dem Alter zunehmenden Geduld ins Gegenteil verkehren. Empirische Modelle, die räumliche Komponenten berücksichtigen, erklären einen großen Anteil der bisher unerklärten Variation in den Präferenzen der Kinder. Die neuen Einsichten unseres Forschungsprogramms bringen nicht nur die Grundlagenforschung zur Entstehung nicht-kognitiver Fähigkeiten entscheidend voran, sondern bieten auch Eltern, Lehrern und Politikern Hilfestellung, wie sie die Entwicklung nicht-kognitiver Fähigkeiten bei Kindern und Jugendlichen unterstützen können. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esrepo:321337 |
| By: | Capistrano, Daniel (University College Dublin); Creighton, Mathew (University College Dublin); Fernández-Reino, Mariña |
| Abstract: | In this study, we assessed if Large Language Models provided biased answers when prompted to assist with the evaluation of requests made by individuals with different ethnic backgrounds and gender. We emulated an experimental procedure traditionally used in correspondence studies to test discrimination in social settings. The preference given as recommendation from the language models were compared across groups revealing a significant bias against names associated with ethnic minorities, particularly in the housing domain. However, the magnitude of this ethnic bias as well as differences by gender depended on the context mentioned in the prompt to the model. Finally, directing the model to take into consideration regulatory provisions on Artificial Intelligence or potential gender and ethnic discrimination does not seem to mitigate the observed bias between groups. |
| Date: | 2025–07–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:9zusq_v1 |
| By: | Sindri Engilbertsson (University of Amsterdam); Sander Onderstal (University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Leonard Treuren (KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | Competition authorities impose substantial penalties on firms engaging in illegal price-fixing. We examine how basing cartel fines on either revenue, profit, or price overcharge influences cartel and market prices, as well as cartel incidence and stability. In an infinitely repeated Bertrand oligopoly game, we show that revenue-based fines incentivize firms to charge prices above the monopoly price, whereas only overcharge-based fines encourage prices below the monopoly price. Cartels are stable for a smaller range of discount factors when fines are based on overcharges rather than other bases. We test these predictions in a laboratory experiment where subjects can form cartels, which allows them to discuss pricing at the risk of being detected and fined. By equalizing expected fines across treatments, we isolate the effect of the fine's base. We find that market prices are lowest under overcharge-based fines and highest under revenue-based fines. Variation in market prices across treatments is fully driven by cartel prices. While these results align with the theoretical predictions, cartel incidence remains unchanged across regimes. Our results suggest competition authorities could improve enforcement by shifting from revenue-based fines to profit- or overcharge-based fines. |
| Date: | 2025–02–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20250012 |
| By: | Lena Morgon Banks (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); Shanquan Chen (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); Calum Davey (National Institute of Teaching); Kiza Eliza Islam (BRAC International); Elijah Kipchumba (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin); Hannah Kuper (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine); Munshi Sulaiman (BRAC Institute of Governance and Development) |
| Abstract: | We study whether a disability-inclusive, ultra-poor graduation programme (DIG) improves the well-being of ultra-poor households with people with disabilities. We randomly allocate ultra-poor households across four districts of northern Uganda to either the DIG program or the control condition. DIG households received short-term cash transfers, a productive asset, training, and mentorship on using the asset for income generation, as well as access to village loan and savings groups, and necessary healthcare and assistive devices. We estimate the program's impacts three months after completion using survey data that cover households with at least one person with a disability. We find that the DIG program more than doubles household assets and increases annual household incomes and expenditures by about 19\%. Moreover, these impacts are similar, or in some cases slightly higher, when the main project participant is a person with a disability compared to other household members. We conjecture that designating a person with a disability as the main project participant increases disability salience, which in turn crowds in external support and induces positive behavioural adjustments within the household. |
| Keywords: | Disability; Disability Inclusive Graduation; Ultra-poor Graduation Program; Financial Well-being; Household |
| JEL: | I32 I38 J14 O12 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep0625 |
| By: | Oliver Feltham (University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Arthur Schram (University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Randolph Sloof (University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute) |
| Abstract: | In an election, protest voters signal their discontent with the party they traditionally support in different ways. This paper examines a specific form of protest voting in which voters choose an anti-mainstream party over their true first preference, the mainstream party, as a way to signal discontent with mainstream policies or influence future policy decisions. Protest voters face a trade-off stemming from a coordination problem. Too few protest votes mean that the strength of the protest is insufficient to affect the mainstream’s policies; too many protest votes may result in an anti-mainstream victory, which is a sub-optimal outcome for the protest voter. One way to address this coordination problem is through opinion polls. In this context, polls serve a dual purpose: they provide information about the challenges protest voters face (information channel) and function as a coordination mechanism, allowing voters to adjust their behaviour based on poll results to resolve the coordination problem (coordination channel). We test, experimentally, the extent to which each of these channels increases the likelihood that the protest is successful and find that both channels are significant. |
| Keywords: | protest voting, opinion polls, experiments |
| JEL: | C92 D72 D83 |
| Date: | 2025–02–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20250013 |
| By: | Siye Bae (Northwestern University); Sangyup Choi (Yonsei University); Sang-Hyun Kim (Yonsei University); Myunghwan Andrew Lee (New York University); Myungkyu Shim (Yonsei University) |
| Abstract: | We study how politically diverse households form and update macroeconomic expectations in response to public communication, using novel survey waves of Korean individuals conducted in 2022 during a historic inflation surge. The survey includes a randomized information treatment in which respondents are exposed to government forecasts about inflation stabilization, with treatments varying in messenger, framing, media source, and numerical content. We first document substantial political polarization in macroeconomic beliefs, including inflation expectations. We then find that only pro-government individuals revise their expectations downward in response to the information, while anti-government and centrist individuals remain largely unresponsive, regardless of message source, content, or presentation. These asymmetric responses are driven by differences in trust toward the policy authority, which are themselves linked to partisanship, highlighting the challenges of anchoring expectations in politically polarized environments. |
| Keywords: | Inflation expectations; Macroeconomic beliefs; Partisan bias; Central bank communication; Household survey |
| JEL: | C83 D84 E31 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yon:wpaper:2025rwp-255 |
| By: | Antman, Francisca M. (University of Colorado, Boulder); Skoy, Evelyn (Hamilton College); Flores, Nicholas E. (University of Colorado, Boulder) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the impacts of grades and information on gender gaps in college major and college dropout rates at a large public flagship university. Observational and experimental results suggest women are more responsive to introductory economics grades when deciding whether to major in economics while men are more responsive to introductory economics grades when deciding whether to drop out of college. Providing better information about grade distributions appears to only somewhat mitigate these impacts. These results suggest better information may blunt the impact of relative grade sensitivities on college gender gaps but may not fully outweigh the saliency of grades. Finally, we consider the extent to which aligning economics grading standards with those of competing disciplines would reduce the gender gap in economics graduates but find relatively limited impacts. |
| Keywords: | college dropout, college major, gender, higher education |
| JEL: | I23 I24 J16 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18001 |
| By: | Ramon van den Akker; Bas J. M. Werker; Bo Zhou |
| Abstract: | We establish an asymptotic framework for the statistical analysis of the stochastic contextual multi-armed bandit problem (CMAB), which is widely employed in adaptively randomized experiments across various fields. While algorithms for maximizing rewards or, equivalently, minimizing regret have received considerable attention, our focus centers on statistical inference with adaptively collected data under the CMAB model. To this end we derive the limit experiment (in the Hajek-Le Cam sense). This limit experiment is highly nonstandard and, applying Girsanov's theorem, we obtain a structural representation in terms of stochastic differential equations. This structural representation, and a general weak convergence result we develop, allow us to obtain the asymptotic distribution of statistics for the CMAB problem. In particular, we obtain the asymptotic distributions for the classical t-test (non-Gaussian), Adaptively Weighted tests, and Inverse Propensity Weighted tests (non-Gaussian). We show that, when comparing both arms, validity of these tests requires the sampling scheme to be translation invariant in a way we make precise. We propose translation-invariant versions of Thompson, tempered greedy, and tempered Upper Confidence Bound sampling. Simulation results corroborate our asymptotic analysis. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.13897 |
| By: | Kitamura, Shuhei; Takahashi, Ryo; Yamada, Katsunori |
| Abstract: | Elections are a primary mechanism through which citizens can hold politicians accountable for misconduct. However, whether voters actually punish corruption at the ballot box remains an open question, as electoral decisions often involve strategic considerations, including beliefs about how others think and behave. To better understand how such strategic considerations operate in this context, we conducted a pre-registered information intervention during a major political corruption scandal in Japan. The treatment provided information about the prevailing social norm—specifically, the perceived social intolerance of the scandal. The treatment increased turnout and support for a challenger, particularly among swing voters who initially believed that others were intolerant of corruption. Among party loyalists with more lenient prior beliefs, the same information backfired, increasing support for the incumbent. The turnout effect among swing voters was sizable—approximately six percentage points—comparable in magnitude to benchmark mobilization interventions involving personalized contact or social pressure. To account for these patterns, we develop a simple model that incorporates mechanisms—notably *moral reinforcement* and *identity reinforcement*—that generate predictions consistent with the observed heterogeneity in responses. By highlighting how perceptions of prevailing norms shape voter behavior in the presence of strategic considerations, this study contributes to a broader understanding of how democratic institutions can remain resilient in the face of political misconduct. |
| Date: | 2025–06–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:296zd_v1 |
| By: | Sandra Bohmann; Susann Fiedler; Maximilian Kasy; Jürgen Schupp; Frederik Schwerter |
| Abstract: | Mental health and wellbeing are unequally distributed in high-income countries, disadvantaging low-income individuals. Unconditional, regular, and guaranteed cash transfers may help address this inequality by promoting financial security and agency. We conducted a preregistered RCT in Germany, where treated participants received monthly payments of EUR 1, 200 for three years. Cash transfers improve mental health and wellbeing. These effects are substantively large and robust. Cash transfers also improve perceived autonomy, savings, prosocial giving, time with friends, and sleep. Our findings suggest that cash transfers improve mental health and wellbeing if they empower agency and meaningful life changes. |
| Keywords: | Basic Income, mental health, RCT, purpose in life, life satisfaction |
| JEL: | C93 I31 D10 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2129 |
| By: | Bernhard, Sarah; Bohmann, Sandra; Fiedler, Susann; Kasy, Maximilian; Schupp, Jürgen; Schwerter, Frederik |
| Abstract: | How does basic income (a regular, unconditional, guaranteed cash transfer) impact labor supply? We show that in search models of the labor market with income effects, this impact is theoretically ambiguous: Employment and job durations might increase or decrease, match surplus might be shifted to workers or employers, and worker surplus might be reallocated between wages and job amenities. We thus turn to empirical evidence to study this impact. We conducted a pre-registered RCT in Germany, starting 2021, where recipients received 1200 Euro/month for three years. We draw on both administrative and survey data, and find no extensive margin (employment) response, and no impact on job transitions from either non-employment or employment. We do find a small statistically insignificant intensive margin shift to part-time employment, which implies an excess burden (reduction of government revenues) of ca 7.5% of the transfer. We furthermore observe a small increase of enrollment in training or education. (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality Working Paper) |
| Date: | 2025–06–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:xe8zh_v1 |