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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Marta Serra-Garcia |
| Abstract: | How does information transmission change when it requires attracting the attention of receivers? This paper combines an experiment that varies freelance professionals’ incentives to attract attention about scientific findings, with several online experiments that exogenously expose receivers to the content created. Attention incentives lead to significantly less information being transmitted, but not more factually inaccurate content. These incentives increase information demand and the knowledge of interested receivers. However, among the majority of receivers who do not demand more information, attention incentives lower knowledge and increase biases in beliefs, revealing that missing information can be a channel through which misperceptions arise. |
| Keywords: | attention, incentives, information, experiment |
| JEL: | D83 D91 C72 C91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11885 |
| By: | Ceballos, Francisco; Chugh, Aditi; Kramer, Berber |
| Abstract: | The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has heightened interest in digital models to strengthen agricultural extension. Such tools could help provide personalized advisories tailored to a farmer's unique conditions at scale and at a low cost. This study evaluates the fundamental assumption that personalized crop advisories are more effective than generic ones. By means of a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT), we assess the impact of personalized picture-based advisories on farmers’ perceptions, knowledge and adoption of recommended inputs and practices, and other downstream outcomes. We find that personalizing advisories does not significantly improve agricultural outcomes compared to generic ones. While farmers who engage relatively more with advisories (i.e., those who receive and read a substantial number of messages based on self-reports) tend to achieve better outcomes, this is irrespective of whether the advisories they receive are tailored to their specific situation or not. We conclude that investments in digital extension tools should aim to enhance engagement with advisories rather than focusing solely on personalization. |
| Keywords: | agricultural extension; artificial intelligence; farmers; inputs; India; Kenya; Asia; Southern Asia; Africa; Eastern Africa |
| Date: | 2024–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:169348 |
| By: | Shu Wang; Zijun Yao; Shuhuai Zhang; Jianuo Gai; Tracy Xiao Liu; Songfa Zhong |
| Abstract: | Advancements in large language models (LLMs) have sparked a growing interest in measuring and understanding their behavior through experimental economics. However, there is still a lack of established guidelines for designing economic experiments for LLMs. By combining principles from experimental economics with insights from LLM research in artificial intelligence, we outline and discuss eight practical tactics for conducting experiments with LLMs. We further perform two sets of experiments to demonstrate the significance of these tactics. Our study enhances the design, replicability, and generalizability of LLM experiments, and broadens the scope of experimental economics in the digital age. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.21371 |
| By: | Belot, Michèle (Cornell University); de Koning, Bart (Cornell University); Fouarge, Didier (ROA, Maastricht University); Kircher, Philipp (Cornell University); Muller, Paul (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Philippen, Sandra (University of Groningen) |
| Abstract: | We study the impact of online information provision to unemployed job seekers who are looking for work in occupations in slack markets, i.e. with only few vacancies per job seeker. Job seekers received suggestions about suitable alternative occupations, and how the prospects of these alternatives compare to their current occupation of interest. Some additionally received a link to a motivational video. We evaluate the interventions using a randomized field experiment covering all eligible job seekers registered to search in the target occupations. The vast majority of treated job seekers open the message revealing the alternative suggestions. The motivational video is rarely watched. Effects on unemployed job seekers in structurally poor labor markets are large: their employment, hours of work and labor income all improve by 5% to 6% after 18 months. Additional survey evidence shows that treated job seekers find employment in more diverse occupations. |
| Keywords: | information treatment, randomized experiment, occupational mobility, job search |
| JEL: | J62 J63 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17905 |
| By: | Kosec, Katrina; Kyle, Jordan; Narayanan, Sudha; Raghunathan, Kalyani; Ray, Soumyajit |
| Abstract: | We explore the impacts of exposing women to female role models and providing skills training on outcomes related to women’s aspirations and engagement in demanding assets under India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)—the largest public works program in the world, which solicits citizen input on which assets to build and where. While the role model treatment exposes women to a video with stories of female role models from neighboring districts who successfully demanded assets, the skills training shows women how to identify individual and group needs for assets, frame their demands, and articulate them to public functionaries. In a randomized controlled trial spanning 94 villages and involving approximately 2, 600 women, we find that exposure to role models alone has limited impacts, but when combined with skills training, there are strong positive impacts on women’s aspirations and engagement in demanding assets. This reveals that even a light-touch training can significantly benefit women’s voice and agency in village decision-making. |
| Keywords: | civil society; decision making; gender; training; women's empowerment; India; Asia; Southern Asia |
| Date: | 2024–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:169023 |
| By: | Trachtman, Carly; Kramer, Berber; do Nascimento Miguel, Jérémy |
| Abstract: | Investments in R&D are often made under ambiguity about the potential impacts of various projects. High-quality, systematic market research could help reduce that ambiguity, including in investments in agricultural research-for-development, such as plant breeding. Using an online framed artefactual experiment with a diverse sample of breeding experts working in various disciplines across the world, we ask how market information and information quality influences breeding experts’ investments in prospects with ambiguous returns, and how the quality and source of information affect willingness to pay for market information. We find that providing market information leads participants to make more prioritized (rather than diversified) decisions. However, participants do not consider differences in information quality, instead over extrapolating from noisy and biased information signals. Finally, while most participants are willing to use experimental funds to purchase market information, around half prefer lower quality information even if higher quality information is available at the same price. We conclude that prioritizing R&D projects with greater impact opportunities will require better awareness among decision-makers of quality issues in various types of market research. |
| Keywords: | agricultural research for development; plant breeding; experimental design; market research |
| Date: | 2024–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:169025 |
| By: | Keenan, Michael; Koo, Jawoo; Mwangi, Christine Wamuyu; Karachiwalla, Naureen; Breisinger, Clemens; Kim, MinAh |
| Abstract: | Academic researchers want their research to be understood and used by non-technical audiences, but that requires communication that is more accessible in the form of non-technical and shorter summaries. The researcher must both signal the quality of the research and ensure that the content is salient by making it more readable. AI tools can improve salience; however, they can also lead to ambiguity in the signal since true effort is then difficult to observe. We implement an online factorial experiment providing non-technical audiences with a blog on an academic paper and vary the actual author of the blog from the same paper (human or ChatGPT) and whether respondents are told the blog is written by a human or AI tool. Even though AI-generated blogs are objectively of higher quality, they are rated lower, but not if the author is disclosed as AI, indicating that signaling is important and can be distorted by AI. Use of the blog does not vary by experimental arm. The findings suggest that, provided disclosure statements are included, researchers can potentially use AI to reduce effort costs without compromising signaling or salience. Academic researchers want their research to be understood and used by non-technical audiences, but that requires communication that is more accessible in the form of non-technical and shorter summaries. The researcher must both signal the quality of the research and ensure that the content is salient by making it more readable. AI tools can improve salience; however, they can also lead to ambiguity in the signal since true effort is then difficult to observe. We implement an online factorial experiment providing non-technical audiences with a blog on an academic paper and vary the actual author of the blog from the same paper (human or ChatGPT) and whether respondents are told the blog is written by a human or AI tool. Even though AI-generated blogs are objectively of higher quality, they are rated lower, but not if the author is disclosed as AI, indicating that signaling is important and can be distorted by AI. Use of the blog does not vary by experimental arm. The findings suggest that, provided disclosure statements are included, researchers can potentially use AI to reduce effort costs without compromising signaling or salience. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence; communication; research; Southern Asia |
| Date: | 2024–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:169363 |
| By: | de Koning, Bart K. (Cornell University); Fouarge, Didier (ROA, Maastricht University); Dur, Robert (Erasmus University Rotterdam) |
| Abstract: | We run a field experiment in which we provide information to students about job opportunities and hourly wages of occupations they are interested in. The experiment takes place within a widely-used career orientation program in the Netherlands, and involves 28, 186 pre-vocational secondary education students in 243 schools over two years. The information improves the accuracy of students' beliefs and leads them to change their preferred occupation to one with better labor market prospects. Administrative data that covers up to four years after the experiment shows that students choose (and remain in) post-secondary education programs with better job opportunities and higher hourly wages as a result of the information treatment. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, labor market information, education choice |
| JEL: | C93 D83 I26 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17951 |
| By: | R. Maria del Rio-Chanona; Marco Pangallo; Cars Hommes |
| Abstract: | We explore the potential of Large Language Models (LLMs) to replicate human behavior in economic market experiments. Compared to previous studies, we focus on dynamic feedback between LLM agents: the decisions of each LLM impact the market price at the current step, and so affect the decisions of the other LLMs at the next step. We compare LLM behavior to market dynamics observed in laboratory settings and assess their alignment with human participants' behavior. Our findings indicate that LLMs do not adhere strictly to rational expectations, displaying instead bounded rationality, similarly to human participants. Providing a minimal context window i.e. memory of three previous time steps, combined with a high variability setting capturing response heterogeneity, allows LLMs to replicate broad trends seen in human experiments, such as the distinction between positive and negative feedback markets. However, differences remain at a granular level--LLMs exhibit less heterogeneity in behavior than humans. These results suggest that LLMs hold promise as tools for simulating realistic human behavior in economic contexts, though further research is needed to refine their accuracy and increase behavioral diversity. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.07457 |
| By: | Faith Fatchen; John A. List; Francesca Pagnotta |
| Abstract: | In recent years, field experiments have reshaped policy worldwide, but scaling ideas remains a thorny challenge. Perhaps the most important issue facing policymakers today is deciding which ideas to scale. One approach to attenuate this information problem is to augment traditional A/B experimental designs to address questions of scalability from the beginning. List 2024 denotes this approach as “Option C” thinking. Using early education as a case study, we show how AI can overcome a critical barrier in Option C thinking – generating viable options for scaling experimentation. By integrating AI-driven insights, this approach strengthens the link between controlled trials and large-scale implementation, ensuring the production of policy-based evidence for effective decision-making. |
| JEL: | C9 C90 C91 C92 C93 C99 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33924 |
| By: | Batsaikhan, mongoljin; Kamei, Kenju |
| Abstract: | Team-based collaboration is integral to education, work, and daily life, fostering ability-driven peer effects through discussions, social comparisons, and knowledge sharing. Despite extensive evidence of peer effects in specific contexts, their broader impacts on comparable but different activities remain underexplored. Our study addresses this gap using a novel dataset from Mongolia that combines a natural field experiment in classrooms, university entrance examination scores, and grade point averages in the university. First-year undergraduate students were randomly paired to collaboratively complete weekly assignments throughout a course. Low-ability students (based on their entrance exam scores) paired with high-ability peers significantly improved their academic performance not only in the specific course but also in other concurrent courses, showing strong spillover effects. The magnitude of the spill-over relative to the direct effect was 0.723. These pairings had no adverse effects on high-ability students. The findings highlight the Pareto efficiency of peer interactions in groups with large ability differences and offer insights into improving productivity and learning through ability-based spillovers. |
| Keywords: | peer effects, spillover effects, a natural field experiment, teamwork |
| JEL: | C93 I23 M53 M54 |
| Date: | 2025–05–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:124793 |
| By: | Jiawei Fu; Donald P. Green |
| Abstract: | How should we analyze randomized experiments in which the main outcome is measured in multiple ways and each measure contains some degree of error? Since Costner (1971) and Bagozzi (1977), methodological discussions of experiments with latent outcomes have reviewed the modeling assumptions that are invoked when the quantity of interest is the average treatment effect (ATE) of a randomized intervention on a latent outcome that is measured with error. Many authors have proposed methods to estimate this ATE when multiple measures of an outcome are available. Despite this extensive literature, social scientists rarely use these modeling approaches when analyzing experimental data, perhaps because the surge of interest in experiments coincides with increased skepticism about the modeling assumptions that these methods invoke. The present paper takes a fresh look at the use of latent variable models to analyze experiments. Like the skeptics, we seek to minimize reliance on ad hoc assumptions that are not rooted in the experimental design and measurement strategy. At the same time, we think that some of the misgivings that are frequently expressed about latent variable models can be addressed by modifying the research design in ways that make the underlying assumptions defensible or testable. We describe modeling approaches that enable researchers to identify and estimate key parameters of interest, suggest ways that experimental designs can be augmented so as to make the modeling requirements more credible, and discuss empirical tests of key modeling assumptions. Simulations and an empirical application illustrate the gains in terms of precision and robustness. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.21909 |
| By: | Makoto Kuroki; Shusaku Sasaki |
| Abstract: | Budget officers often assess public project proposals based on available financial support and expected outcomes. However, behavioral factors such as time discounting and psychological hesitation may lead to underinvestment in programs with delayed but significant benefits. This study investigates whether financial incentives and non-financial nudges can influence budgetary decisions in local governments. We conducted a nationwide mail-based survey experiment targeting budget officers in Japanese municipalities and received 490 valid responses. Using a 2*2 randomized design, we tested the independent and combined effects of a financial incentive (a 50% national subsidy) and a non-financial nudge (loss framing and peer information). All three treatments significantly increased assessed budget amounts compared to the control group. The largest effect appeared in the combination group (approximately 1.1 million JPY higher, p |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.08323 |
| By: | Björn Bartling; Krishna Srinivasan |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the determinants of individuals’ demand for and supply of paternalistic interventions - measures intended to help others avoid mistakes. Based on data from an incentivized experiment conducted with a large U.S. sample, we find that both demand and supply are higher for informational interventions than for those that restrict choice, and when targeted individuals perceive themselves or are perceived as more error-prone. Moreover, granting targets the right to withhold consent increases demand. These behavioral patterns, supported by participants’ free-text responses, suggest that both receiving and supplying interventions entail utility costs, particularly when interventions infringe upon personal autonomy. Our findings inform policy design by highlighting the importance of autonomy-preserving features such as choice options and consent rights in securing public support for paternalistic interventions. |
| Keywords: | paternalism, interventions, consent rights, policy design |
| JEL: | C91 D60 D91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11886 |
| By: | Akira IGARASHI; Hatsuru MORITA; Yoshikuni ONO |
| Abstract: | Ethno-racial majority jurors often issue discriminatory sentences against minority perpetrators, particularly when the victim is co-ethnic. Despite extensive research, the mechanisms and non-Western contexts remain understudied. We propose that the mechanisms driving interethnic discriminatory sentencing may be either punitive, reflecting a motivation to punish out-group members, or sympathetic, indicating a tendency to favor in-group members. Our survey experiment involved 4, 000 Japanese citizens acting as jurors in a hypothetical criminal case. Contrary to our initial hypotheses, we found no significant differences in sentencing based on the ethnicity of the perpetrator or victim. However, sentences were significantly longer when the perpetrator was Chinese and the victim was Japanese. Further analysis revealed that respondents who viewed immigrants as more threatening were more punitive toward foreign perpetrators, regardless of the victim’s ethnicity. These findings suggest that punitive mechanisms, driven by perceived threats, predominantly influence discriminatory sentencing, whereas sympathetic mechanisms play a lesser role. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:dpaper:25052 |
| By: | Bandiera, Oriana; Bassi, Vittorio; Burgess, Robin; Rasul, Imran; Sulaiman, Munshi; Vitali, Anna |
| Abstract: | There are 420 million young people in Africa today, and only one in three has a regular salaried job. We study how two common labor market interventions—vocational training and matching—affect the job search behavior of young workers. We do so by means of a field experiment tracking young job seekers for 6 years in Uganda’s main cities. Vocational training amplifies the job seekers’ initial optimism, leading them to search more intensively and toward high-quality firms. Adding matching has the opposite effect, plausibly because of low callback rates. These differences affect labor market outcomes in the long run. |
| JEL: | J64 O12 |
| Date: | 2025–07–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120080 |
| By: | Ndegwa, Michael K.; Shee, Apurba; Ward, Patrick S.; Liu, Yanyan; Turvey, Calum G.; You, Liangzhi |
| Abstract: | We use a multiyear, multi-arm randomized controlled trial implemented among 1, 053 smallholders in Kenya to evaluate ex-ante investment and ex-post productivity and welfare benefits of two competing lending models: risk-contingent credit (RCC)—which embeds crop insurance with a loan product—and traditional credit (TC). We rely on local average treatment effects to demonstrate the effects of these alternative credit products on borrowers but report the intention-to-treat effects for their broader policy significance. Uptake of RCC increased treated households’ farm investments—specifically, adoption of chemical fertilizers—by up to 14 percent along the extensive margins and by more than 100 percent along the intensive margins, while TC’s effects were less in both magnitude and statistical significance. Neither type of credit product had a significant effect on the overall area cultivated under maize, hence enhancing agricultural intensification but not extensification. Ex-post, neither type of credit product had a strong direct effect on households’ productivity. We conclude that access to credit has potential to increase investment and productivity among smallholders, although improved productivity needs better measurement and extended intervention to be realized. To scale the potential effects of credit, derisking access to credit should be considered to expand access to credit. |
| Keywords: | credit; productivity; investment; smallholders; welfare; risk; Kenya; Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2024–12–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:163758 |
| By: | Leonardo Bursztyn; Ingar K. Haaland; Nicolas Röver; Christopher Roth |
| Abstract: | Social desirability bias (SDB) is a pervasive threat to the validity of survey and experimental data. Respondents might often misreport sensitive attitudes and behaviors to appear more socially acceptable. We begin by synthesizing empirical evidence on the prevalence and magnitude of SDB across various domains, focusing on studies with individual-level benchmarks. We then critically assess commonly used strategies to mitigate SDB, highlighting how they can sometimes fail by creating confusion or inadvertently increasing perceived sensitivity. To help researchers navigate these challenges, we offer practical guidance on selecting the most suitable tools for different research contexts. Finally, we examine how SDB can distort treatment effects in experiments and discuss mitigation strategies. |
| JEL: | B41 C83 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33920 |
| By: | Ahmed, Akhter; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; Hoddinott, John F.; Roy, Shalini |
| Abstract: | Evidence shows that cash and in-kind transfer programs increase food security while interventions are ongoing, including during or immediately after shocks. But less is known about whether receipt of these programs can have protective effects for household food security against shocks that occur several years after interventions end. We study the effects of a transfer program implemented as a cluster-randomized control trial in rural Bangladesh from 2012-2014 – the Transfer Modality Research Initiative (TMRI) – on food security in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. We assess TMRI’s impacts at three post-program time points: before the shock (2018), amidst the shock (2021), and after the immediate effects of the shock (2022). We find that TMRI showed protective effects on household food security during and after the pandemic, but program design features “mattered”; positive impacts were only seen in the treatment arm that combined cash transfers with nutrition behavior change communication (Cash+BCC). Other treatment arms – cash only, and food only – showed no significant sustained effects on our household food security measures after the intervention ended, nor did they show protective effects during the pandemic. A plausible mechanism is that investments made by Cash+BCC households in productive assets – specifically livestock – increased their pre-shock resilience capacity. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; resilience; shock; social protection; Bangladesh; Asia; Southern Asia |
| Date: | 2024–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:155053 |
| By: | Noelia Bernal; Sebastian Galiani; Oswaldo Molina |
| Abstract: | We conducted a large field experiment in Peru on informal workers and studied whether offering them a matching contribution raise participation and contributions in their Individual Retirement Accounts. We had three groups: a control group receiving no match, and two treatments groups receiving 50 and 100 percent match, respectively. Additionally, due to the time span, we can also analyze the difference responses between pre and during Covid-19. The results were as follows. First, the match incentive increases participation. Workers in the 50 and 100 percent match groups show participation rates of 5.2 and 6.5 p.p. higher than workers in the control group, respectively. The participation effect is also present pre Covid-19 and disappears during it. Second, the 100 percent match incentive was the only effective in increasing savings among all individuals (1.4 p.p.), pre (2.3 p.p.) and during Covid-19 (0.97 p.p.). This effect still presents in LATE specification with higher p.p. Third, 100% match was again the only effective to make contribute more than once, in the full sample (1.2 p.p.), and pre Covid-19 (2.7 p.p.), including LATE specification (full sample – 5.6 p.p.; pre Covid-19 – 8.2p.p.). Fourth the 50 percent match is not effective in raising contribution in any specification. |
| JEL: | J49 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33925 |
| By: | Leight, Jessica; Bahiru, Kibret Mamo; Buehren, Niklas; Getahun, Tigabu; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Mulford, Michael; Tambet, Heleene |
| Abstract: | Sustainable land management (SLM) technologies including composting and agro-forestry are widely promoted as strategies to counter land degradation and enhance resilience against adverse weather shocks. Given that women are disproportionately vulnerable to such shocks, promoting their uptake of these technologies may be particularly important. We conducted a randomized trial in rural Ethiopia analyzing a bundled intervention providing training and inputs designed to encourage uptake of three interrelated SLM technologies: fruit tree planting, composting, and home gardening. The trial included 1900 extremely poor households in 95 subdistricts, randomly assigned to treatment arms in which women only or couples were included in the intervention. The findings one year post-baseline suggest a positive and large effect on take-up of all three technologies: the probability of reporting any trees increased by eight percentage points, and the probability of reporting a garden and/or composting increased by 20 to 30 percentage points, symmetrically across treatment arms. There are also significant reported increases in household vegetable production and consumption as well as in women’s dietary diversity. There is, however, some evidence that tree survival rates and tree health are weakly lower in intervention households compared to control households who spontaneously planted trees. Some positive effects on equitable intrahousehold decision-making and task-sharing are observed, especially in the couples’ training arm, but in general there is no robust evidence that either intervention significantly shifted intrahousehold gender dynamics. |
| Keywords: | climate change; land management; gender; social protection; sustainable land management; Ethiopia; Africa; Eastern Africa |
| Date: | 2024–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:168513 |
| By: | Jachimowicz, Jessica; Puppe, Clemens |
| Abstract: | Deliberative decision-making is often proposed as a mechanism to mitigate polarization in democratic processes. However, empirical evidence remains mixed, with some studies suggesting that deliberation among like-minded individuals can drive preference shifts toward extremes. We use a three-round group dictator game to systematically examine how group composition influences deliberative outcomes. Our design allows us to compare deliberation within like-minded and mixed-minded groups while also manipulating the voting rule (median vs. unanimity) to assess its impact on decision-making. Contrary to expectations of polarization, we find that deliberation moderates preferences across all conditions. This effect is strongest for selfish participants in mixed-minded groups, but also like-minded selfish groups behave significantly less extreme than individuals. On the other hand, the moderating effect of deliberation does not persist when subjects revert back to individual decision-making. Regardless of the voting rule, groups tend to converge on unanimous decisions, suggesting norm-driven behavior in deliberative and participatory settings. Our findings contribute to ongoing debates on the role of group composition and decision rules in shaping collective outcomes in social dilemmas. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:kitwps:319615 |
| By: | Metcalfe, Robert; Roth, Sefi |
| Abstract: | Exposure to ambient air pollution has been shown to be detrimental to human health and productivity, and has motivated many policies to reduce such pollution. However, given that humans spend 90% of their time indoors, it is important to understand the degree of exposure to Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), and, if high, ways to reduce it. We design and implement a field experiment in London that monitors households’ IAP and then randomly reveals their IAP in real-time. At baseline, we find that IAP is worse than ambient air pollution when residents are at home and that for 38% of the time, IAP is above World Health Organization standards. Additionally, we observe a large household income-IAP gradient, larger than the income-ambient pollution gradient, highlighting large income disparities in IAP exposure. During our field experiment, we find that the randomized revelation reduces IAP by 17% (1.9 µg/m3 ) overall and 34% (5 µg/m3 ) during occupancy time. We show that the mechanism is households using more natural ventilation as a result of the feedback (i.e., opening up doors and windows). Finally, in terms of welfare, we find that: (i) households have a willingness to pay of £4.8 ($6) for every 1 µg/m3 reduction in indoor PM2.5; (ii) households have a higher willingness to pay for mitigation than for full information; (iii) households have a price elasticity of IAP monitor demand around -0.75; and (iv) a £1 subsidy for an IAP monitor or an air purifier infinite marginal value of public funds, i.e., a Pareto improvement. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2025–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128514 |
| By: | Arun G. Chandrasekhar; Matthew O. Jackson |
| Abstract: | We provide an overview of methods for designing and implementing experiments (field, lab, hybrid, and natural) when there are networks of interactions between subjects. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.11313 |
| By: | Aurel Stenzel; Johannes Lohse; Till Requate; Israel Waichman |
| Abstract: | We characterize 'Games of Altruistic Cooperation' as a class of games in which cooperation leaves the individual and the group of decision-makers worse off than defection, but favors individuals outside the group. An example is climate change mitigation. In this context, we experimentally investigate whether decentralized institutions using costly punishment and/or communication support altruistic cooperation to sustain the welfare of future generations. Without punishment or communication, cooperation is low; communication alone even increases the incidence of zero contributions. However, combining peer punishment with communication strongly increases cooperation, showing that an effective decentralized solution to a Game of Altruistic Cooperation exists. |
| Keywords: | games of altruistic cooperation, social dilemma, intergenerational good game, punishment, communication |
| JEL: | C92 D74 H41 Q54 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11880 |
| By: | Kariuki, Sarah W.; Mohamed, Asha B.; Mutuku, Urbanus; Mutegi, Charity; Bandyopadhyay, Ranajit; Hoffmann, Vivian |
| Abstract: | Agricultural technologies shown to be highly effective in research trials often have a lower impact when utilized by smallholder farmers. Both heterogeneous returns and suboptimal application are believed to play a role in this efficacy gap. We provide experimental evidence on the impact of a biocontrol product for the control of aflatoxin, a carcinogenic fungal byproduct, as applied by smallholder farmers in Kenya. By varying the level of external support across farmers, we investigate the role of misapplication in the effectiveness gap. We find that the provision of biocontrol together with a one-time training on application reduces aflatoxin contamination in maize relative to a control group by 34 percent. Additional training to the farmers in the form of a call to remind them of the correct time of application in the crop cycle increases the reduction to 52 percent. Our findings indicate that farmers can achieve meaningful improvements in food safety using biocontrol even with minimal training on its use and that additional support at the recommended time of application can strengthen its impact. |
| Keywords: | food safety; aflatoxins; impact assessment; agricultural technology; smallholders; training; maize; crops; Kenya; Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2024–12–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:168192 |
| By: | Roberto Galbiati (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Emeric Henry (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Nicolas Jacquemet (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | What actions other people judge appropriate drives pro-social behavior. We show that such judgments depend on whether the observers previously faced the situation they judge (active observers) or not (passive observers). In an online giving experiment, active observers make more polarized judgments than passive ones -those who acted pro-socially judge selfish behavior more harshly and praise pro-social actions more. Moreover, active observers persistently avoid payoff-relevant information, both as dictators, likely to maintain their self-image, and then as observers. Our results imply a new link between descriptive (what most people do) and injunctive norms (what groups deem appropriate). |
| Keywords: | Observers, Injunctive norms, Descriptive norms, Polarization, Observers Injunctive norms Descriptive norms Polarization |
| Date: | 2025–06–16 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-05115226 |
| By: | Abay, Kibrom A.; Berhane, Guush; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Tafere, Kibrom; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum |
| Abstract: | Targeting is an important but challenging process in the design and delivery of social and humanitarian assistance programs. Community-based targeting (CBT) approaches are often preferred for their local information advantages, especially when data-driven methods are not feasible. However, how different variants of CBT approaches fare under various constraints and environments remains unclear. For example, it is not obvious whether agents involved in CBT maximize the number of beneficiaries or the intensity of transfers when given different levels of discretion or they face budget constraints. We implemented a clustered randomized control trial among community leaders in 180 villages in Ethiopia to evaluate how community leaders target and allocate resources when they face budget constraints and are in the presence (absence) of discretion. We find that under resource constraints, community leaders prefer to maximize the number of beneficiaries even at the expense of thinly spreading budgets (reducing average transfers to beneficiaries). Community leaders are keen to minimize exclusion errors even at the expense of increased inclusion errors, suggesting that community leaders may be sensitive to potential communal repercussions and hence prefer to accommodate beneficiaries who would otherwise be excluded based on survey-based measures and indicators of poverty. Consistent with this, we find that offering community leaders some level of discretion helps them reduce exclusion errors and include those most deprived or those affected by armed conflicts. Finally, we find that community leaders are more vulnerable to favoritism when real stakes (rather than hypothetical) are involved, budgets are relatively larger, and they lack discretion. We offer nuanced evidence about the implications of implementing CBT designs in the absence of incentives for community leaders to reveal how they use local information. |
| Keywords: | community development; fragility; social protection; targeting; Ethiopia; Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2024–10–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:158351 |
| By: | Burger, Maximilian Nicolaus; Nilgen, Marco; Vollan, Björn |
| Abstract: | Citizens’ Juries (CJs) are increasingly implemented as a means to engage citizens in deliberation on complex policy challenges, yet their effectiveness can be undermined by cognitive biases and limited value-driven reasoning. This study evaluates the impact of bias alleviation and value activation exercises on deliberative quality and civic engagement in four CJs conducted in Bogotá, Colombia. Two juries incorporated these exercises as treatment interventions, and two served as controls with extended deliberation time. Results reveal that deliberation itself modestly reduced confirmation bias compared to non-participants, while the structured interventions enhanced participants’ awareness of biases and value-based reasoning. However, the interventions did not significantly reduce the occurrence of biases and led to a perceived trade-off with deliberation time. Participation in CJs also showed improved trust in science and political self-efficacy, demonstrating their potential to foster civic engagement. These findings highlight the nuanced benefits and limitations of integrating debiasing interventions into mini-publics to enhance deliberative quality and equity in policymaking. |
| Keywords: | democracy; environmental economics; food systems; participatory research; public participation; sustainability; Colombia; Americas; South America |
| Date: | 2024–12–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:gsspwp:169372 |
| By: | Andrew C. Barr; Benjamin L. Castleman |
| Abstract: | A college degree offers a pathway to economic mobility for low-income students. Using a multi-site randomized controlled trial combined with administrative and survey data, we demonstrate that intensive advising during high school and college significantly increases bachelor’s degree attainment among lower-income students. We leverage unique data on pre-advising college preferences and causal forest methods to show that these gains are primarily driven by improvements in initial enrollment quality. Our results suggest that strategies targeting college choice may be a more effective and efficient means of increasing degree attainment than those focused solely on affordability. |
| JEL: | H52 I24 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33921 |
| By: | Milovanska-Farrington, Stefani (The University of Tampa); LaForge, Olivier (University of Nebraska Omaha); Burton, Jennifer (University of Tampa) |
| Abstract: | Analogies can simplify complex new material by relating it to ideas students already know. Making cross-disciplinary connections also makes the material more engaging, accessible and memorable. In this study, we perform a controlled empirical test to examine whether providing cross-discipline analogy examples enhances students’ learning. We find strong evidence of an increase in students’ self-reported understanding of the material and actual performance after exposure to analogies. Students who are less familiar with the concepts prior to the class benefit from the analogy examples the most. About 40% of the students report that examples that cross-reference their major facilitate learning the most, followed by about 25% of the students who find everyday examples the most useful. The findings have implications for the importance of designing a curriculum that prioritizes a cross-disciplinary, holistic approach that allows students to recognize analogies between various fields of study and helps them apply basic principles in various contexts in the future. |
| Keywords: | analogy, teaching economics, controlled experiment, empirical test, introductory economics, finance, teaching finance |
| JEL: | A20 A22 I21 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17946 |
| By: | Zhehao Zhang; Thomas S. Richardson |
| Abstract: | Individual treatment effect (ITE) is often regarded as the ideal target of inference in causal analyses and has been the focus of several recent studies. In this paper, we describe the intrinsic limits regarding what can be learned concerning ITEs given data from large randomized experiments. We consider when a valid prediction interval for the ITE is informative and when it can be bounded away from zero. The joint distribution over potential outcomes is only partially identified from a randomized trial. Consequently, to be valid, an ITE prediction interval must be valid for all joint distribution consistent with the observed data and hence will in general be wider than that resulting from knowledge of this joint distribution. We characterize prediction intervals in the binary treatment and outcome setting, and extend these insights to models with continuous and ordinal outcomes. We derive sharp bounds on the probability mass function (pmf) of the individual treatment effect (ITE). Finally, we contrast prediction intervals for the ITE and confidence intervals for the average treatment effect (ATE). This also leads to the consideration of Fisher versus Neyman null hypotheses. While confidence intervals for the ATE shrink with increasing sample size due to its status as a population parameter, prediction intervals for the ITE generally do not vanish, leading to scenarios where one may reject the Neyman null yet still find evidence consistent with the Fisher null, highlighting the challenges of individualized decision-making under partial identification. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.07469 |
| By: | Majbouri, Mahdi (Babson College) |
| Abstract: | Women’s educational attainment has continuously increased across the Middle East, while fertility rates have declined substantially. Yet their labor force participation remains stubbornly low. To investigate this puzzle, I use a discrete choice experiment in Egypt that varies the gender composition of the work environment—a key but underexplored dimension. I find that men, who have final say over women’s work decisions, demand 77% higher wages for their wives if the job is in a mixed-gender setting. Since few workplaces are all-female and men can veto women’s employment, these findings help explain the persistently low female participation rate. |
| Keywords: | Middle East and North Africa, preferences toward job attributes, labor supply |
| JEL: | J21 J29 J49 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17952 |
| By: | Guglielmo Barone; Annalisa Loviglio; Denni Tommasi |
| Abstract: | Digital skills are increasingly essential for full participation in modern life. Yet many low-income families face a dual digital divide: limited access to technology and limited ability to use it effectively. These gaps can undermine adults' ability to support their children's education, restrict access to public services, and reduce their own employability. Despite growing policy attention, rigorous evidence on how to close these gaps - especially among disadvantaged adults in high-income countries - remains scarce. We evaluate the impact of a comprehensive digital inclusion program in Turin, Italy, targeting 859 low-income families with school-aged children. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group or one of two treatment arms, each combining a free tablet with internet access and digital literacy training of different durations. One year later, treated participants reported large improvements in digital skills and daily technology use. Parents also became more confident in guiding their children's online activities, more engaged in digital parenting, and more likely to access public services digitally. We find no short-run effects on employment or job search behavior, but treated participants expressed greater optimism about future training prospects. Effects are statistically similar across the two training intensities, suggesting that once basic barriers are removed, digital engagement can become self-sustaining. Mediation analysis confirms that digital skills - not just access - are key drivers of these outcomes. Sequential effects are particularly strong in the domains of social inclusion and parenting. The findings underscore the importance of addressing both financial and learning constraints and suggest that bundled interventions can foster inclusive digital participation. |
| JEL: | I24 J24 O33 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1205 |
| By: | Arkadiusz Szyd{\l}owski |
| Abstract: | We propose tests for the convexity/linearity/concavity of a transformation of the dependent variable in a semiparametric transformation model. These tests can be used to verify monotonicity of the treatment effect, or, equivalently, concavity/convexity of the outcome with respect to the treatment, in (quasi-)experimental settings. Our procedure does not require estimation of the transformation or the distribution of the error terms, thus it is easy to implement. The statistic takes the form of a U statistic or a localised U statistic, and we show that critical values can be obtained by bootstrapping. In our application we test the convexity of loan demand with respect to the interest rate using experimental data from South Africa. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.08914 |
| By: | Sarah Bernhard; Sandra Bohmann; Susann Fiedler; Maximilian Kasy; Jürgen Schupp; Frederik Schwerter |
| 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 on job transitions from either non-employment or employment. We do find a small statistically insignificant intensive margin shift to parttime 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. |
| Keywords: | Basic income, randomized controlled trial, labor supply |
| JEL: | I38 J22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2123 |
| By: | Kim, Jungkeun; Cho, Areum; Baek, Tae Hyun; Park, Jooyoung; Bae, Joonheui |
| Abstract: | Luxury brands creating non-fungible tokens (NFTs) often face technical constraints that compromise visual aesthetics, potentially conflicting with their high-end image. This study investigates how the visual quality of NFTs and the presence of price information influence consumer perceptions of luxury goods in the metaverse across three experimental studies. Study 1 compared consumer evaluations across three conditions: good-quality NFT, poor-quality NFT, and no NFT. The findings revealed that poor NFT visual quality negatively influenced evaluations of the original product, with perceived authenticity identified as the key underlying mechanism. Study 2 examined whether this negative effect could be mitigated by the presence of price information. The results showed that a poor-quality NFT accompanied by price information resulted in more favorable evaluations of the original bag, regardless of style similarity. Study 3 replicated these findings using a three-condition design (low-price NFT, high-price NFT, and no NFT), demonstrating that the mitigating role of price information. Together, these findings contribute to the emerging digital fashion literature by highlighting the importance of visual quality and price transparency in NFT-based luxury marketing strategies within the metaverse. |
| Keywords: | metaverse; NFT; luxury goods; visual quality; perceived authenticity; price information; AAM requested |
| JEL: | L81 |
| Date: | 2025–10–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128334 |