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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Pouget, Sébastien; Brodback, Daniel; Guenster, Nadja; Wang, Ruichen |
| Abstract: | We present an experimental study of investors’ willingness to pay for socially responsible assets. In our initial public offering experiment, various assets share identical financial risk-return profiles but differ in the intensity and timing of societal benefits, represented by charitable donations. We find that subjects value societal benefits positively and prefer a positive correlation between financial returns and these societal benefits. We offer implications for the design of corporate social responsibility policies and for the pricing of responsible assets. |
| Keywords: | Socially Responsible Investing; Investment Decisions; ESG Preferences; Experimental Finance |
| JEL: | A13 C91 G41 |
| Date: | 2025–10–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:131057 |
| By: | Ana Lleó-Bono; Ines Lee; Eileen Tipoe; Christopher Rauh |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether increasing individuals' awareness of their own confidence can influence financial behaviour. In a pre-registered online experiment with nearly 3, 000 U.S. adults, we test the effects of a novel metacognitive intervention: personalised feedback on implicit confidence about one's financial abilities, as measured by a custom Implicit Association Test (IAT), paired with an explanation of the importance of self-confidence in financial abilities. Treated participants show a significant reduction in "don't know" responses on financial literacy tests and their performance in an incentivised investment task significantly improves: treated participants are less likely to make clearly dominated choices, more likely to select efficient allocations, and choose portfolios closer to the efficient frontier. These effects persist two weeks later in a follow-up survey with obfuscated framing. Heterogeneity analyses show stronger effects for females and for participants who understate their confidence (i.e. whose reported confidence is lower than what their IAT suggests). |
| Keywords: | confidence, financial literacy, onfidence awareness, personal finance, survey experiments |
| JEL: | D14 D83 D91 G11 G53 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1522 |
| By: | Noémi Berlin (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Tarek Jaber-Lopez (IPP - Instituto de politicas y Bienes Publicos - Centrode Ciencias Humanas y Sociales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas); Moustapha Sarr (CNRS, EconomiX, Université Paris Nanterre, 92001 Nanterre) |
| Abstract: | In a lab-in-the-field experiment, we investigate the influence of social norms on 300 parents' beliefs regarding the nutritional quality of food items and their subsequent food choices. We use a 3 × 2 between-subject experimental design where we vary two factors: 1-the social norm provided to parents: a descriptive norm (what other parents choose) vs. an injunctive norm (what other parents approve of), and 2-the recipient of the food decisions made by parents: their own child vs. an unknown child. Parents participate in a two-stage process. In the first stage, we elicit their beliefs regarding the nutritional quality of various food items and ask them to make a food basket without specific information. In the second stage, based on their assigned treatment, they receive specific information and repeat the belief elicitation and the food basket selection tasks. We find that only the descriptive norm significantly reduces parents' overestimation rate of items' nutritional quality. Injunctive norm significantly improves the nutritional quality of both, the parent's and child's baskets. Descriptive norm significantly improves the nutritional quality of child's baskets only when parents are choosing for unknown child. |
| Keywords: | child, parent, food beliefs, food choices, information provision, Social norms |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05330418 |
| By: | Sarah Kühn (first name last name) (Paderborn University); Nadja Papatya Duman (first name last name of second author) (Bielefeld University (workplace of second author)); Britta Hoyer (first name last name of second author) (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen (workplace of second author)); Thomas Streck (first name last name of second author) (Paderborn University (workplace of second author)); Nadja Stroh-Maraun (first name last name of second author) (Paderborn University (workplace of second author)) |
| Abstract: | Preferences are central to matching markets, yet experiments typically rely on induced preferences that may not reflect real-world decision-making. We examine how induced versus non-induced preferences shape behavior in matching experiments, extending Chen and Sönmez (2006). Using the most frequently used school choice mechanisms (Boston, Deferred Acceptance, and Top Trading Cycles), we supplement monetary incentives with participants’ own preferences. Our results show that preference induction systematically affects truthful reporting and comprehension of mechanisms. These findings underscore that experimental design choices matter for the validity of behavioral insights and have direct implications for policy evaluation. (abstract of the paper) |
| Keywords: | Non-induced Preferences, Experiments, Matching, School Choice (keywords) |
| JEL: | C78 D47 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:dispap:159 |
| By: | Adena, Maja; Huck, Steffen; Neyse, Levent |
| Abstract: | While almost all charities rely on a set of donor appreciation strategies, their effectiveness for the success of fundraising campaigns is underresearched. Through two preregistered field studies conducted in collaboration with a leading German opera house (N=10, 000), we explore the significance of expressing gratitude and examine two different approaches to doing so. Our first study investigates the impact of a "thank you in advance" statement in fundraising letters, a common strategy among fundraisers. In the second study, we explore the effectiveness of handwritten thank-you postcards versus printed postcards, shedding light on the roles of personalization and handwriting in donor appeals. Our findings challenge conventional wisdom, revealing that neither "thank you in advance" nor handwritten thank-you notes significantly affect donor contributions. |
| Keywords: | Charitable giving, philanthropy, thanking, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D64 D12 D91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbmbh:330305 |
| By: | Philippos Louis |
| Keywords: | I design a within-subject experiment to investigate why individuals fall victim to the winner’s curse. A known explanation is a failure of contingent thinking (FCT). My design disentangles the effects of pure FCT from cursedness—the failure to recognize the correlation between others’ information and actions. Results show that many participants exhibit FCT without being cursed, while a similar fraction display cursed reasoning. Only a minority avoid both errors. By estimating structural models of cognitive reasoning, including one of pure FCT, I provide further support for these findings, clarifying distinct cognitive mechanisms underlying suboptimal behavior. |
| JEL: | C91 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–10–25 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucy:cypeua:03-2025 |
| By: | Kozo Ueda; Yoshio Kamijo; Hideaki Minami |
| Abstract: | This study investigates why inflation converges only slowly to its target by combining laboratory experiments with structural estimation. We create a laboratory environment in which subjects act as ï¬ rms and set prices under Calvo-type stickiness, where profits are determined as a weighted average of competitors’ prices and an exogenously given aggregate price. The experimental results show that both higher aggregate inflation and stronger strategic complementarity hinder convergence to the theoretical equilibrium under rational expectations. Using Bayesian MCMC estimation, we systematically compare subjects' behavior with rational-expectations predictions, allowing for small deviations motivated by bounded rationality. The results reveal that subjects overestimate strategic complementarity, which contributes to delayed inflation convergence. |
| Keywords: | strategic complements, sticky prices, bounded rationality |
| JEL: | C92 E32 E52 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2025-57 |
| By: | Pol Campos-Mercade; Armando N. Meier; Florian H. Schneider; Roberto A. Weber |
| Abstract: | We study attitudes toward offering monetary payments for vaccination. We develop the Policy Lab, an experimental paradigm to characterize policy preferences in which participants decide whether to implement actual interventions to influence others’ real-world behavior. In two studies with representative samples of the Swedish population (N=2, 010) and one with Swedish policymakers (N=2, 008), participants decide whether to provide others (N=1, 529) with monetary incentives for vaccination. A majority of participants oppose using monetary incentives. Despite the widespread perception that such incentives are an effective policy instrument, which is supported in our data, opposition to their use is driven by perceptions that they are coercive and unethical. Policymakers exhibit, if anything, greater opposition to the use of monetary incentives. We also document that opposition to incentives extends beyond vaccination to other health domains. Our study provides evidence that the public opposes policies that they correctly perceive as effective, potentially creating barriers to their adoption. We further introduce a novel method to elicit policy preferences, widely applicable whenever researchers conduct randomized trials. |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:478 |
| By: | Beber, Bernd; Frohnweiler, Sarah; Lakemann, Tabea; Anti Partey, Peter; Schnars, Regina; Lay, Jann |
| Abstract: | Despite substantial investment in skills training worldwide, evidence for the effectiveness of such interventions in sub-Saharan Africa is still relatively sparse. We contribute to this literature by implementing a multisite randomized controlled trial (RCT) of the Professionalization of Artisans (ProfArts) program in Ghana, a state-of-the art training program designed to improve employment quality through skilled trades training. The research design enables the assessment of impacts on labor market outcomes across multiple sites (four different urban labor markets, six providers). We find limited overall impacts, with variation across cities, including notable employment and income effects in Tamale in the less developed north and some benefits in job quality in the more developed central city of Kumasi. We present evidence that these differences are not well explained by variation in program implementation, hinting at the importance of local labor market conditions. We also document how Bayesian implementers could learn from this evaluation and how real-world stakeholders actually learn. We collect data on implementers' expectations regarding the program's effectiveness, both before and after the presentation of RCT results. Stakeholders' beliefs about the program's impact adjust in response to empirical findings, but more optimistically than Bayesian learning would suggest. |
| Abstract: | Trotz erheblicher Investitionen in Qualifizierungsmaßnahmen ist die Evidenz zur Wirksamkeit solcher Interventionen in Subsahara-Afrika nach wie vor vergleichsweise spärlich. Wir tragen zu dieser Literatur bei, indem wir ein randomisiert kontrolliertes Experiment (RCT) an mehreren Standorten zum Programm "Professionalization of Artisans" (ProfArts) in Ghana durchführen - einem State-of-the-Art-Qualifizierungsprogramm, das durch Ausbildung in qualifizierten Handwerksberufen die Qualität der Beschäftigung verbessern soll. Das Forschungsdesign ermöglicht die Bewertung der Effekte auf Arbeitsmarktergebnisse über mehrere Standorte hinweg (vier verschiedene städtische Arbeitsmärkte, sechs Träger). Insgesamt finden wir begrenzte Wirkungen, die jedoch zwischen den Städten variieren, darunter Beschäftigungs- und Einkommenseffekte in Tamale im weniger entwickelten Norden sowie einige Verbesserungen der Arbeitsqualität in der stärker entwickelten zentralen Stadt Kumasi. Wir zeigen, dass sich diese Unterschiede nicht gut durch Variationen in der Programmdurchführung erklären lassen, was auf die Bedeutung lokaler Arbeitsmarktbedingungen hindeutet. Zudem dokumentieren wir, wie bayesianisch lernende Durchführende aus dieser Evaluation lernen könnten und wie reale Akteure tatsächlich lernen. Wir erheben Daten zu den Erwartungen der Durchführenden hinsichtlich der Programmwirksamkeit, sowohl vor als auch nach der Präsentation der RCT-Ergebnisse. Die Erwartungen der Akteure über die Wirkungen des Programms passen sich zwar an die empirischen Befunde an, bleiben jedoch optimistischer, als es bayesianisches Lernen nahelegen würde. |
| Keywords: | Skills trainings, labor market interventions, randomized controlled trials |
| JEL: | J24 O12 D84 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:330179 |
| By: | Brüll, Eduard; Mäurer, Samuel; Rostam-Afschar, Davud |
| Abstract: | We provide experimental evidence on how employers adjust expectations to automation risk in high-skill, white-collar work. Using a randomized information intervention among tax advisors in Germany, we show that firms systematically underestimate automatability. Information provision raises risk perceptions, especially for routine-intensive roles. Yet, it leaves short-run hiring plans unchanged. Instead, updated beliefs increase productivity and financial expectations with minor wage adjustments, implying within-firm inequality like limited rent-sharing. Employers also anticipate new tasks in legal tech, compliance, and AI interaction, and report higher training and adoption intentions. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence, Automation, Technological Change, Innovation, Technology Adoption, Firm Expectations, Belief Updating, Expertise, Labor Demand, White Collar Jobs, Training |
| JEL: | J23 J24 D22 D84 O33 C93 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1683 |
| By: | Hui-Kuan Chung; Nick Doren; Lasse Mononen; Mia Lu; Marcus Grueschow; Helen Hayward Könnecke; Alexander Jetter; Boris B. Quednow; Nick Netzer; Philippe N. Tobler |
| Abstract: | Models of limited attention have the potential to become a new unifying paradigm that could replace the rational choice approach. In this paper, we test the limited attention hypothesis by enhancing attention using pharmacological substances. A total of 160 subjects participated in our randomized, placebocontrolled, and double-blind experimental study. We find that enhancing attention through boosting the noradrenergic system with reboxetine improves the quality of choice as captured by multiple different measures of rationality. Eye-tracking suggests that boosting noradrenaline promotes more rational choice by efficiently directing attention to more valuable options. Other attention-enhancing drugs (methylphenidate, which boosts the dopaminergic system, and nicotine, which boosts the cholinergic system) improve rationality to a lesser extent. Aside from testing the limited attention hypothesis directly, our results have implications for welfare economics, policy-design, and public health. |
| Keywords: | Limited attention, rationality, pharmacology |
| JEL: | B41 C91 D01 D60 D91 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:476 |
| By: | Eva, Kenneth; Lamla, Michael; Pfajfar, Damjan |
| Abstract: | We document novel stylized facts regarding updating of households' inflation expectations. Using two randomized controlled trials fielded in the US and Germany where signals in the form of professionals' inflation forecasts have different perceived levels of precision, we show that households react more to information with higher levels of precision, in line with Bayesian updating. However, in contrast to Bayesian updating, they mostly respond differently to these signals in the decision to update expectations (extensive margin) and not in the size of the adjustment (intensive margin). The extensive margin also displays a pronounced asymmetry: Households more frequently update their expectations when the signal is above the prior compared to when the signal is below the prior. We propose a model where households' inflation expectations exhibit state-dependent inattentiveness to inflation signals. In times of high uncertainty, elevated inflation expectations may persist due to the increased information processing costs of uncertain inflation signals and the relatively smaller welfare losses of not adjusting expectations when signals are below priors (disinflations) compared to when signals are above priors (accelerating inflation). Our model provides microfoundations for the asymmetric loss function that is commonly assumed to explain biases in inflation expectations. |
| Abstract: | Wir untersuchen und zeigen neue Erkenntnisse hinsichtlich der Anpassung von Inflationserwartungen privater Haushalte. Unter der Nutzung von zwei Experimenten, in den USA und Deutschland, in denen wir Haushalte Inflationsprognosen von Fachleuten mit unterschiedlicher Präzision bereitstellen, zeigen wir, dass präzisere Informationen stärkere Anpassungen der Erwartungen bewirken - im Einklang mit einer bayesschen Aktualisierung. Von der Bayes-Regel weichen die Haushalte jedoch ab, wenn es um die Entscheidung geht, ob Erwartungen überhaupt angepasst werden (extensive Marge). Für die extensive Marge beobachten wir zudem eine ausgeprägte Asymmetrie: Erwartungen werden deutlich häufiger angepasst, wenn das Informationssignal oberhalb der bestehenden Erwartungen liegt, als wenn es darunter liegt. Um diese Beobachtungen theoretisch zu fundieren, schlagen wir ein Modell vor, in dem Inflationserwartungen eine zustandsabhängige Unaufmerksamkeit gegenüber Inflationssignalen aufweisen. In Phasen hoher Unsicherheit können erhöhte Inflationserwartungen fortbestehen, da unsichere Signale höhere Informationsverarbeitungskosten verursachen und die Wohlfahrtsverluste gleichzeitig aber relativ gering sind, wenn bei Signalen sinkender Inflation keine Anpassung erfolgt, im Vergleich zu Situationen mit Signalen, die auf eine beschleunigte Inflation hindeuten. Das Modell liefert damit eine mikroökonomische Grundlage für die asymmetrische Verlustfunktion, die in der Literatur häufig herangezogen wird, um systematische Verzerrungen in Inflationserwartungen zu erklären. |
| Keywords: | Inflation expectations, rational inattention, signal uncertainty, randomized controlled trial, survey experiment |
| JEL: | E31 E52 E58 D84 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:330184 |
| By: | Christopher Hoy (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research); Yeon Soo Kim; Saad Imtiaz; Ana Maria Rojas Mendez; Moritz Meyer; Gustavo Javier Canavire Bacarreza; Lydia Kim; William Hutchins Seitz; Imane Helmy; Ikuko Uochi; Sering Touray; Juni Singh; Bambang Suharnoko Sjahrir; Utz Pape; Alan Fuchs; Trang Van Nguyen; Defne Gencer; Min A Lee; Akiko Sagesaka; Ivette Contreras |
| Abstract: | Public opposition is a major barrier to economic reforms, such as subsidy removal.Using multilayered, randomized survey experiments with 10, 000 respondents across ten surveys in five countries, this paper shows that opposition to energy price reforms is shaped more by design and communication than by cost. Around 70 percent of respondents strongly opposed a 100 percent immediate price increase, but resistance was nearly halved when reforms were phased in, targeted at high-energy consumers, or paired with compensation. Informational messages also reduced opposition by as much as halving the price increase. An expert prediction survey revealed systematic misunderstandings: specialists underestimated the influence of design features and greatly misperceived coping strategies and compensation preferences. These findings demonstrate that behavioral biases—such as present bias, loss aversion, and fairness heuristics—are as influential as economic costs in shaping people’s opposition to economic reforms, underscoring the importance of careful design and communication of politically sensitive reforms. |
| Keywords: | Political Economy, Public Finance, Subsidies, Climate Change, Energy Policy |
| JEL: | D04 D80 D90 H20 H30 H50 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2025n14 |
| By: | Martha J. Bailey; Emilia Brito Rebolledo; Deniz Gorgulu; Kelsey Figone; Vanessa W. Lang; Alexa Prettyman; Vanessa Dalton |
| Abstract: | We use a randomized controlled trial to examine how the costs of contraception affect method choice, pregnancy, abortion, and childbirth among U.S. women. The study recruited women seeking care through Title X—a national family planning program subsidizing reproductive health services for low-income Americans—and randomized vouchers making the full spectrum of available contraception highly discounted or free. We find that subsidizing contraception has large and persistent effects on the choice of contraceptive method, resulting in significantly fewer pregnancies and abortions within two years. Subsidizing contraception negatively affected births, but the effect was not significant at two years. |
| JEL: | I14 I18 J13 J18 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34400 |
| By: | Adrian Düll; Heiko Karle; Simon Martin; Heiner Schumacher |
| Abstract: | The classic search models assume that consumers adhere to a particular method of search (sequential or non-sequential) and that they know the true price distribution. In this paper, we evaluate how well the search cost estimates from classic models predict search outcomes - the amount of search and purchase prices - when these assumptions are violated. To this end, we conduct an online experiment in which we vary searchers' information about the price distribution of a homogeneous good. For each treatment, we (i) estimate search costs, (ii) fit each model to the estimated search cost distribution to obtain in- and out-of-sample predictions about outcomes, and (iii) compare predicted and realized outcomes. We find that the prediction performance of each model is largely robust to violations of the informational assumption. Further, the prediction performance of the sequential and non-sequential search model are similar, despite the fact that the search environment strongly favors sequential search. |
| Keywords: | online search, search costs, search cost estimation |
| JEL: | C90 D12 D83 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12221 |
| By: | Abdelaziz, Fatma; Abay, Kibrom A. |
| Abstract: | Despite growing enthusiasm about the potential of digital innovations to transform agrifood systems, adoption among smallholder farmers in Africa remains low and heterogeneous. While the proliferation of digital tools targeting smallholder farmers is encouraging, the vast majority remain at pilot stages, facing important demand and supply-side barriers to adoption. This paper evaluates alternative digital literacy interventions designed to address these demand-side barriers. Following a Training of Trainers (TOT) model, we designed and implemented a randomized control trial to test three variants of digital literacy training: standard classroom-based digital literacy training (T1), digital training complemented (preceded) by a video-based play (T2), digital training complemented (preceded) by a live community play (T3), and a control group (C). We find that all variants of digital training significantly increased the uptake and utilization of digital tools by smallholder farmers. Specifically, the standard digital training alone increased uptake by 20 percentage points and utilization by 26 percentage points. The interventions also significantly enhanced farmer trust in digital tools by 8–13 percentage points. Surprisingly, for some outcomes, the digital literacy training alone outperformed the combined approaches that incorporated edutainment nudges. We explore possible explanations, including group size effects and social influence dynamics during the plays. We also document heterogeneity in the impact of these interventions across farmers’ gender and age. Our findings offer insights for designing cost effective and scalable interventions to build digital capabilities and trust among smallholder farmers. |
| Keywords: | digital literacy; training; digital agriculture; smallholders; technology adoption; Egypt; Africa; Northern Africa |
| Date: | 2025–09–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:176520 |
| By: | Jing Cynthia Wu; Jin Xi; Shihan Xie |
| Abstract: | We propose a new LLM-based survey framework that enables retrospective coverage, economic reasoning, dynamic effects, and clean identification. We recover human-comparable treatment effects in a multi-wave randomized controlled trial of inflation expectations surveys, at 1/1000 the cost. To demonstrate the framework’s full potential, we extend the benchmark human survey (10 waves, 2018–2023) to over 50 waves dating back to 1990. We further examine the economic mechanisms underlying agents’ expectation formation, identifying the mean-reversion and individual-attention channels. Finally, we trace dynamic treatment effects and demonstrate clean identification. Together, these innovations demonstrate that LLM surveys enable research designs unattainable with human surveys. |
| JEL: | C83 E31 E52 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34308 |
| By: | Blesse, Sebastian; Gruendler, Klaus; Heil, Philipp; Hermes, Henning |
| Abstract: | Economic narratives are pervasive in the public discourse and can shape individual behavior. But so far we know very little about whether households actually demand and value narratives as information. We combine a comprehensive expert survey with a large-scale nationally representative household sample in the U.S. to examine the demand for economic narratives in a high-stakes environment of an unprecedentedly high recession probability. We document a substantial willingness to pay for economic narratives of more than 4 USD, which is higher than for numerical forecast information. The dominant motives for acquiring narratives are intrinsic, but a smaller share of participants also lists instrumental motives. Economic narratives improve respondents' understanding of recession drivers and shape beliefs about the economy and spending, but exert only a minor impact on quantitative expectations. Our findings underscore the potential of narratives as a tool to improve economic understanding and to foster more informed decisionmaking. |
| Keywords: | Narratives, Experts, Information Acquisition, Willingness to Pay, Expectation Formation, Belief Formation, Spending Intentions, Recession |
| JEL: | D83 D84 D12 E32 E71 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:330323 |
| By: | Christopher Eaglin; Apoorv Gupta; Filippo Mezzanotti; Jonathan Zinman |
| Abstract: | We enrich a standard debt overhang model with liquidity constraints to guide the design and interpretation of a collateralized debt modification experiment on a publicly traded lender’s delinquent vehicle loans to minibus entrepreneurs. Liquidity constraints add another borrower incentive compatibility constraint that interacts with debt overhang to shape repayment and effort. Consistent with model predictions, we find: debt reduction does not affect liquidity constrained borrowers; payment reduction improves both repayment and effort for borrowers with sufficient vehicle equity; payment reduction induces repayment without effort increases for low-equity borrowers. These results suggest a pecking order strategy for modification practice and policy. |
| JEL: | G23 G31 O16 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34398 |
| By: | Allen IV, James; Karachiwalla, Naureen; Rakshit, Deboleena |
| Abstract: | We study conditional cooperation using a field-adapted conditional contributions game in rural Mozambique, eliciting community members’ willingness to contribute to a new public program conditional on how many others contribute. While past studies suggest most people are conditional cooperators (contributing more as others do), most of our sample (57%) are undefined by standard classifications. Instead, our sample's most common types are largely absent from the literature: counter conditional cooperators (contributing less as others do) and v-shaped cooperators, both for monetary donations (30% and 19%) and volunteering (35% and 12%). Our findings motivate future research in both non-laboratory and low-income settings. |
| Keywords: | cooperation; low income groups; poverty; school feeding; Mozambique; Africa; Eastern Africa; Southern Africa |
| Date: | 2025–10–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:176850 |
| By: | Blesse, Sebastian (University of Leipzig); Gruendler, Klaus (University of Kassel); Heil, Philipp (ifo Institute, University of Munich); Hermes, Henning (Ifo Institute for Economic Research) |
| Abstract: | Economic narratives are pervasive in the public discourse and can shape individual behavior. But so far we know very little about whether households actually demand and value narratives as information. We combine a comprehensive expert survey with a large-scale nationally representative household sample in the U.S. to examine the demand for economic narratives in a high-stakes environment of an unprecedentedly high recession probability. We document a substantial willingness to pay for economic narratives of more than 4 USD, which is higher than for numerical forecast information. The dominant motives for acquiring narratives are intrinsic, but a smaller share of participants also lists instrumental motives. Economic narratives improve respondents’ understanding of recession drivers and shape beliefs about the economy and spending, but exert only a minor impact on quantitative expectations. Our findings underscore the potential of narratives as a tool to improve economic understanding and to foster more informed decision-making. |
| Keywords: | belief formation, expectation formation, willingness to pay, information acquisition, experts, narratives, spending intentions, recession |
| JEL: | D83 D84 D12 E32 E71 |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18205 |
| By: | Andreas Haupt |
| Abstract: | Algorithmic recommendation based on noisy preference measurement is prevalent in recommendation systems. This paper discusses the consequences of such recommendation on market concentration and inequality. Binary types denoting a statistical majority and minority are noisily revealed through a statistical experiment. The achievable utilities and recommendation shares for the two groups can be analyzed as a Bayesian Persuasion problem. While under arbitrary noise structures, effects on concentration compared to a full-information market are ambiguous, under symmetric noise, concentration increases and consumer welfare becomes more unequal. We define symmetric statistical experiments and analyze persuasion under a restriction to such experiments, which may be of independent interest. |
| Date: | 2025–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2510.16972 |
| By: | Nishat Babu (Loughborough University); Kenneth de Roeck (SKEMA Business School - SKEMA Business School); Nicolas Raineri (ICN Business School, CEREFIGE - Centre Européen de Recherche en Economie Financière et Gestion des Entreprises - UL - Université de Lorraine) |
| Abstract: | This research investigates the interactive effect of servant leadership and employee psychological entitlement on socially responsible behavior (SRB) among employees. Specifically, we build on social learning theory to hypothesize that employee psychological entitlement, an individual trait reflecting an excessive self-oriented focus, undermines the positive effects of servant leadership on employee prosocial motivation, and in turn, SRB. Results from a multi-source field study (N = 240) support our predictions, and highlight the detrimental role of employee psychological entitlement on the ability of organizational leaders to effectively promote the creation of social good through employee behavior. |
| Keywords: | Employee socially responsible behavior, Psychological entitlement, Prosocial motivation, Servant leadership, SRB |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05321037 |
| By: | Eissler, Sarah; Bryan, Elizabeth |
| Abstract: | Often-cited studies show that when women influence or control household spending decisions, they tend to spend in ways that improve the welfare of their household. However, these studies are decades old, and the most recent review of this evidence was published over a decade ago (see Doss 2013). We present a rapid review of this literature since 2013 on women’s relative bargaining power over household resource allocation and its relationship with key well-being outcomes. Specifically, we review the evidence to answer the following questions: 1) Does women’s control over income within the household influence household expenditure patterns?; 2) Does the source of women’s income matter for spending decisions?; and 3) Does the amount of women’s income matter for spending decisions? We employ a rapid review approach to identify research published since 2013 that focuses on how women who have influence or control over spending decisions allocate those resources and associations with well-being outcomes. Utilizing key search terms and clear selection criteria, we identified 46 papers. Most studies represent sub-Saharan Africa. They employed a range of methods and represented a mix of observational and experimental (or quasi-experimental) designs. Most studies did not specify the source of income, but we did identify those focused on income from agricultural or off-farm activities, remittances, and cash transfers. Our review of the literature since 2013 has generally found evidence that is consistent with the research prior to 2013, but more convincing as there has been an increase in causal evidence published. Compared to men, women prioritize spending on investments in children, their education, food – including more diverse and nutrient-dense foods – and on healthcare regardless of income source. Overall, women’s influence over resource allocation decisions tend to promote equitable distribution of money to boy and girl children. We see mixed results around how women prioritize investing in savings compared to men; several studies indicated women prioritize savings more than men but do so for different reasons, although one study in a matrilineal society indicated that women prioritize food budgets at the expense of building savings. And finally, there is consistent evidence that the share of household budgets spent on adult goods or vices (primarily alcohol and tobacco) reduces when women have higher relative bargaining power over how these resources are allocated. Few studies considered how the amount of money influenced women’s ability to allocate it, suggesting that women may be able to influence spending over smaller amounts of resources compared to larger expenditures. To address gaps identified in the literature, future studies could look across income from different sources to understand whether women have greater influence or control over certain income streams compared to others, or how the source of income may influence how the money is allocated. They could also explore the relative amount of income women can control and how women’s control over income fluctuates as total household income changes. We recommend a systematic evidence review to assess the different levers influencing women’s relative bargaining power over resource allocation within a household and understanding the outcomes of women’s bargaining power. |
| Keywords: | decision making; households; income; women; gender |
| Date: | 2025–09–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:176630 |