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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Cary Frydman; Lawrence J. Jin |
| Abstract: | The principle of efficient coding implies that the perception of monetary payoffs is shaped by the decision maker's prior beliefs. Specifically, payoffs that the decision maker expects to encounter more frequently should be perceived more accurately. Most previous tests of efficient coding rely on the decision maker's experience to shape the prior. We conduct a pre-registered experiment to test whether descriptive information about the prior affects behavior in a manner consistent with efficient coding. We randomize whether participants receive this information before the experiment begins. We find strong evidence for efficient coding; however, we detect no effect of information provision on behavior. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that experience quickly crowds out any effect of descriptive information on optimal allocation of coding resources. |
| JEL: | G0 G40 G41 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34214 |
| By: | Justin E. Holz; Ricardo Perez-Truglia; Alejandro Zentner |
| Abstract: | The wealthiest individuals frequently engage in tax avoidance, and public awareness of this behavior is growing. Such awareness may undermine tax compliance among the broader population, either by revealing strategies others can emulate or by shifting social norms to make avoidance seem more acceptable. We first document that individuals are less tolerant of both tax avoidance and tax evasion when carried out by the wealthiest households. We next present results from a field experiment on property tax appeals, which—like other forms of tax avoidance—is used disproportionately by the wealthiest households. Providing information about the appeal rates of the richest-1% of households increased individuals' perceptions of unfairness, but did not affect their own appeal decisions—measured via administrative records—or even their expected tax savings. Information about the prevalence of appeals among comparable households also had no effect. By contrast, information about the expected financial gains from appealing had a significant effect on appeal choices. In sum, while the public condemns tax avoidance by the wealthiest households, we find no sign that such behavior encourages similar actions among the broader population. |
| JEL: | C9 H26 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34209 |
| By: | Yeganloo, A.; Moran, C.; Jafri, J. |
| Abstract: | We present comprehensive experimental evidence that expanding the number of charitable options enhances both donation outcomes and donor experience, suggesting choice deprivation rather than choice overload. In a pre-registered online experiment with over 2, 248 participants donating real money to UK charities (average donation of £1.59 out of £2.50), we find that increasing the number of available charities raises total donations robustly by approximately £0.04. Furthermore, allowing participants to donate to multiple charities, rather than restricting them to one, boosts donations by £0.23 on average, without increasing regret or diminishing satisfaction. Other mediators, difficulty, deliberation, and familiarity, do not explain the impact of treatments on giving behaviour. Our design rules out alternative explanations, including self-interest, ease of donation, or perceived importance of giving, and highlights that more choices encourage thoughtful engagement with the donation decision. The results are highly relevant to the design of consumer-facing interventions in pro-environmental domains, importantly for energy and climate policy. In areas such as carbon offsetting and climate-focused giving, individuals are required to make voluntary contributions or adopt sustainable products. Our evidence suggests that providing diverse and flexible choices can increase contributions in these domains. |
| Keywords: | Charitable Giving, Donation, Public Goods, Choice Overload, Choice Deprivation, Satisfaction, Regret |
| JEL: | C91 D64 D91 H00 |
| Date: | 2025–07–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2554 |
| By: | Stefania Bortolotti; Felix Kölle; Ivan Soraperra; Matthias Sutter |
| Abstract: | Inequality often arises from strategic interactions among individuals. This is so because risky investments can not only be resolved by chance (natural risk), but also by others’ actions (social risk). We study how these different sources of inequality shape fairness judgments and the level of redistribution in a controlled experiment with a total of 2, 152 participants. We find significantly less inequality acceptance, and thus much more redistribution, under social risk. In addition to the well-known types of Libertarians, Egalitarians and Choice Egalitarians, we identify a novel, hitherto unnoticed, fairness type — Insurers — who always compensate unlucky risk-takers and are especially prevalent when one is let down by others rather than simply unlucky by chance. This suggests that impartial spectators view betrayal as more deserving of support than bad luck. Our findings show that fairness ideals depend jointly on risk-taking and the way in which risk is resolved, either by nature or another human actor, thus highlighting the important role of strategic interaction for fairness types and redistribution. |
| Keywords: | inequality, fairness views, social risk, redistribution, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D63 D90 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12128 |
| By: | Contreras Silva, Valentina; Orsini, Chiara; Özcan, Berkay; Koehler, Johann |
| Abstract: | We present results from a field experiment that tests the effects of varying gender and linguistic group composition on performance and on group-members’ perception that their voice is heard when completing complex collaborative work within a low scrutiny environment. We randomize individuals enrolled in a postgraduate course populated by mostly women and non-native English speakers into small teams within larger, exogenously assigned seminar groups. Groups are tasked with complex and deliberative research assignments over three months. Using administrative and survey data, we find that a higher share of women in seminar groups significantly benefits the academic performance of group members—an effect driven by a positive effect on female native English speakers — while a greater proportion of women in small teams improves non-native language speakers’ perception of being heard. |
| Keywords: | team dynamics; gender; linguistic diversity; peer effects; higher education; field experiment |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128788 |
| By: | Thomas Graeber; Shakked Noy; Christopher Roth; Thomas W. Graeber |
| Abstract: | Information often shapes behavior regardless of its quality: unreliable claims wield influence, while reliable ones are neglected. We propose that this occurs in part because word-of-mouth transmission tends to preserve claims while dropping information about their reliability. We conduct controlled online experiments where participants listen to economic forecasts and pass them on through voice messages. Other participants listen either to original or transmitted audio recordings and report incentivized beliefs. Across various transmitter incentive schemes, a claim’s reliability is lost in transmission much more than the claim itself. Reliable and unreliable information, once filtered through transmission, impact listener beliefs similarly. Mechanism experiments show that reliability is lost not because it is perceived as less relevant or harder to transmit, but because it is less likely to come to mind during transmission. A simple associative-memory framework suggests that reliability information may be less likely to come to mind either because it is less likely to be cued by transmission requests or because attempts to retrieve it face greater interference. Evidence from our experiments, a large corpus of everyday conversations, and economic TV news supports both of these mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | information transmission, word-of-mouth, reliability, memory, TV news |
| JEL: | D83 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12109 |
| By: | ChienHsun Lin; Hans H. Tung |
| Abstract: | Rational information acquisition theory predicts that people select the more informative information. Thus, people's beliefs will be more persuaded by the information they select. We test the prediction in a critical real-world context -- information about COVID-19 vaccines. We conducted an online experiment in Taiwan where the subjects selected information about COVID-19 vaccines, and then the subjects updated their beliefs about vaccine effectiveness and references to vaccines. As our design distinguishes different stages of the rational acquisition framework, it allows us to diagnose the underlying mechanism of the theory. Our empirical findings demonstrate evidence that people's information acquisition generally coheres with the rational theory framework predictions; that is, people choose information when the information is more likely to alter their decisions. We show that our subjects' beliefs change more when they see the information they select. We also find evidence of change in vaccine preferences and choices after they receive the information they select, which further suggests that the subjects follow the rational information acquisition framework. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.19056 |
| By: | Dinarte-Diaz, Lelys; Gresham, James; Lemos, Renata; Patrinos, Harry A.; Rodriguez-Ramirez, Rony |
| Abstract: | This paper provides insights into human capital investments during wartime by presenting evidence from three experiments of an online tutoring program for Ukrainian students amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Conducted between early 2023 and mid- 2024, the experiments reached nearly 10, 000 students across all regions of Ukraine. The program offered three hours per week of small-group tutoring in math and Ukrainian language over six weeks, and used academic and psychosocial tools to address student challenges at different intensities of disruption. Results show that the program led to substantial improvements in learning-up to 0.49 standard deviations in math and 0.40 standard deviations in Ukrainian language-and consistent reductions in stress-up to 0.12 standard deviations. High take-up and engagement rates were observed, and four mechanisms were identified as drivers of impact: structured peer interactions, improved attitudes toward learning, enhanced socio-emotional skills, and increased student investments. A complementary experiment using information nudges to increase parental engagement highlights challenges in promoting parental investments in a conflict setting. The program was cost-effective across all experiments, with benefit-to-cost ratios ranging from 31 to 56, and scalable given its reliance on existing infrastructure and teaching capacity. |
| Keywords: | Ukraine, wartime, tutoring, student achievement, mental health |
| JEL: | I21 I24 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1663 |
| By: | Natalia Jiménez-Jiménez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Elena Molis-Bañales (Universidad de Granada); Ángel Solano-García (Universidad de Granada) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how voters choose both the tax rate and the level of tax avoidance in different societies, considering luck versus merit as the source of pre-tax income inequality. We propose a laboratory experiment based on the redistributive politics and labor market model by Jiménez-Jiménez et al. (2025). In this model, skilled and unskilled workers decide, by majority voting, between two tax schemes (low and high), with only skilled workers able to avoid taxes. Our experimental design includes four treatments that vary the cost of tax avoidance and the source of initial pre-tax income inequality, with the role of skilled or unskilled workers determined either through a tournament or randomly. Our findings suggest that in economies where tax avoidance is easy, luck as the source of pre-tax income inequality leads individuals to behave more frequently as in the theoretical equilibrium in which the high tax rate is implemented, and skilled workers avoid taxes. Conversely, in economies with a high cost of tax avoidance, meritocracy reinforces the theoretical equilibrium characterized by a higher frequency of votes for the low tax rate and lower levels of tax avoidance. Notably, meritocracy appears to improve income inequality when the cost of tax avoidance is high, but it harms income inequality when that cost is low. |
| Keywords: | tax avoidance; meritocracy; voting; income inequality; real-effort task. |
| JEL: | C92 D72 H26 H30 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:25.05 |
| By: | Peter Katuscak; Tomas Miklanek |
| Abstract: | Fischbacher, Gachter and Fehr (2001) let subjects condition their contributions in a linear public goods game on the average contribution of their groupmates using the strategy method. About half of their subjects exhibit “conditional cooperation†(CC) in that they contribute more the more the groupmates are assumed to contribute. This finding has been extensively replicated. However, recent studies have found large fractions of conditional cooperators (CCs) even in placebo settings in which we would not expect to see any CC, suggesting that the measure of CC is upwardly-biased. We investigate whether mitigating subject confusion and experimenter demand can eliminate or at least reduce the bias. We introduce several design features to mitigate confusion. To mitigate experimenter demand, we provide participants with “exit options†that allow them to avoid conditioning their contributions on those of their groupmates. We evaluate the extent of the bias by the proportion of subjects classified as CCs in a mirror placebo setting involving a meaningless conditioning variable. When we mitigate confusion but not experimenter demand, more than a quarter of subjects end up classified as CCs in the placebo mirror. When we also mitigate experimenter demand, this proportion drops to a level indistinguishable from random behavior. In a standard setting, mitigating experimenter demand reduces the proportion of CCs by almost 40 percent. We therefore conclude that CC should be measured in the presence of the exit options in order to mitigate experimenter demand. |
| Keywords: | conditional cooperation, experimental methodology |
| JEL: | H41 C91 D64 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp798 |
| By: | Marcel Preuss (Cornell University); Germán Reyes (Middlebury College and IZA); Jason Somerville (University of California, Santa Barbara); Joy Wu (University of British Columbia) |
| Abstract: | Elites disproportionately influence policymaking, yet little is known about their fairness and efficiency preferences—key determinants of support for redistributive policies. We investigate these preferences in an incentivized lab experiment with a group of future elites—Ivy League MBA students. We find that MBA students implement substantially more unequal earnings distributions than the average American, regardless of whether inequality stems from luck or merit. Their redistributive choices are also highly responsive to efficiency costs, with an elasticity an order of magnitude larger than that found in representative U.S. samples. Analyzing fairness ideals, we find that MBA students are less likely to be strict meritocrats than the broader population. These findings provide novel insights into how elites’ redistributive preferences may shape high levels of inequality in the U.S. |
| JEL: | D63 C91 H23 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0356 |
| By: | Nickolas Gagnon; Kristof Bosmans; Arno Riedl |
| Abstract: | We conduct an online experiment to study how the unfairness of chances leading to wage inequality affects labor supply decisions. We find that, at a given wage, disadvantageous wage inequality reduces labor supply, but whether this inequality stems from fair or unfair chances does not matter. That is, a procedure with fair chances does not compensate for wage inequality. Our results stand in stark contrast to prior empirical evidence showing that individuals care about fair chances when making equity judgments. |
| Keywords: | D63, D90, J22, J31, M52 |
| JEL: | D63 D90 J22 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12102 |
| By: | Caffera, Marcelo; Chávez, Carlos; Lopez, Carolina; Murphy, James J; Briozzo, Juan |
| Abstract: | We present the results of a series of public-bad laboratory experiments in which we assess whether a salient message suggesting pro-social behavior with an implicit moral appeal, and a tax that is insufficient to induce the optimal level of the externality, can complement each other when implemented jointly. Our results suggest that, on average, (a) behavior is consistent with subjects having moral preferences, (b) a salient message suggesting pro-social behavior can be effective, (c) preferences are non-separable from the choice of instrument (i.e, the tax crowds-out part of the subjects´ moral preferences), and crucially, (d) the tax and the informative message do not complement each other. The tax has a greater impact on reducing the externality than the prosocial guideline, even though the tax was only half of that needed to reach the socially optimal level. Nevertheless, when implemented together, the total effect of both instruments is similar to that of the tax alone. This result is stronger for those subjects that are more “nudgeable” by the prosocial guideline. These results challenge the policy recommendation that nudges can effectively complement low taxes while awaiting the political will to raise them. |
| Keywords: | Economic experiment, nudge, prosocial guideline, public bad, tax |
| JEL: | Q58 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:125756 |
| By: | Lléo-Bono, A. |
| Abstract: | Understanding the drivers of prosocial behavior in collaborative work settings, particularly under conditions of unequal productivity, is essential for effective team management. This paper explores how collaborative behavior is influenced by two factors: workers’ social value orientation and the origins of productivity differences – whether they are exogenous or arise from endogenous effort-based factors that may trigger an entitlement effect. I develop a theoretical model that accurately measures efficient coworker matching considering their altruism and inequality aversion levels required for optimal work collaboration in the presence of a productivity gap. Their salaries are tied to their productivity level, and equilibria are unaffected by belief variations. The role of social preferences and the entitlement effect are tested through an online experiment. Results indicate that both factors significantly increase collaboration among higher-productivity workers, while workers with lower productivity due to exerting less effort and those with higher degrees of altruism reduce their collaboration choices when there is a large payoff gap. Additionally, I demonstrate that the entitlement effect can create preference inconsistencies between lower-productivity individuals’ revealed preferences and their actual behavior. These findings highlight the importance of considering the origins of productivity inequalities to design collaborative environments that enhance team performance. By understanding the nuances of social values and work context, managers can better predict collaboration tendencies and encourage effective teamwork. |
| Keywords: | Collaboration, Entitlement Effect, Social Value Orientation, Online Experiment |
| JEL: | A13 D91 L21 M54 |
| Date: | 2025–04–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camjip:2521 |
| By: | Lléo-Bono, A. |
| Abstract: | Understanding the drivers of prosocial behavior in collaborative work settings, particularly under conditions of unequal productivity, is essential for effective team management. This paper explores how collaborative behavior is influenced by two factors: workers’ social value orientation and the origins of productivity differences – whether they are exogenous or arise from endogenous effort-based factors that may trigger an entitlement effect. I develop a theoretical model that accurately measures efficient coworker matching considering their altruism and inequality aversion levels required for optimal work collaboration in the presence of a productivity gap. Their salaries are tied to their productivity level, and equilibria are unaffected by belief variations. The role of social preferences and the entitlement effect are tested through an online experiment. Results indicate that both factors significantly increase collaboration among higher-productivity workers, while workers with lower productivity due to exerting less effort and those with higher degrees of altruism reduce their collaboration choices when there is a large payoff gap. Additionally, I demonstrate that the entitlement effect can create preference inconsistencies between lower-productivity individuals’ revealed preferences and their actual behavior. These findings highlight the importance of considering the origins of productivity inequalities to design collaborative environments that enhance team performance. By understanding the nuances of social values and work context, managers can better predict collaboration tendencies and encourage effective teamwork. |
| Keywords: | Collaboration, Entitlement Effect, Social Value Orientation, Online Experiment |
| JEL: | A13 D91 L21 M54 |
| Date: | 2025–04–22 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:2555 |
| By: | Timko, Christina; Ostrode, Nicholas; Roos, Michael W. M. |
| Abstract: | Smartphone apps deliberately apply behavioral design, including algorithms sensing human behavior and personalized design elements affecting it. Untransparent behavioral design exploits an information asymmetry between app vendors and consumers and can lead to negative effects on consumers such as diminished user autonomy or smartphone addiction. We address this topic through two main contributions. First, we present guidelines for a more consumer-friendly handling of behavioral design elements, deriving a sixstep approach for the design process of smartphone apps and its documentation that we call responsible interactive behavioral design. Second, we analyze the effects of behavioral design and of measures protecting consumers from unwanted behavioral design in a field experiment with a newsfeed reader app used by three study groups, showcasing the described design approach. In the group with behavioral design but no protection measures, participants used the app twice as long as in the group with the baseline version. Participants in the group with protection measures were most aware of being 'object' to behavioral design. Their usage time was between that of the other two groups. If it becomes adopted, the approach of responsible interactive behavioral design may contribute to viable market solutions, addressing some of the major consumer protection needs. |
| Abstract: | Smartphone-Apps setzen gezielt Behavioral Design ein, einschließlich Algorithmen, die menschliches Verhalten erkennen sowie personalisierter Designelemente, die dieses beeinflussen. Intransparentes Behavioral Design nutzt Informationsasymmetrie zwischen App-Anbietern und Konsumenten aus und kann bei Letzteren negative Effekte wie verringerte Nutzerautonomie oder Smartphone-Sucht hervorrufen. Wir adressieren dieses Thema durch zwei zentrale Beiträge. Erstens präsentieren wir Richtlinien für die nutzerfreundlichere Verwendung von Behavioral Design-Elementen und leiten einen sechsschrittigen Ansatz für das Design von Smartphone-Apps und dessen Dokumentation ab, bezeichnet als Responsible Interactive Behavioral Design. Zweitens analysieren wir die Auswirkungen von Behavioral Design und Schutzmaßnahmen für Konsumenten gegen unerwünschtes Behavioral Design in einem Feldexperiment mit einer durch drei Gruppen genutzten Newsfeed-Reader-App und führen den beschrieben Designansatz vor. In der Gruppe mit Behavioral Design, aber ohne Schutzmaßnahmen, nutzten Teilnehmende die App doppelt so lange wie in der Gruppe mit der Baseline-Version. Teilnehmende in der Gruppe mit Schutzmaßnahmen waren sich am stärksten darüber bewusst, Behavioral Design ausgesetzt zu sein. Ihre Nutzungszeit lag zwischen jener der beiden anderen Gruppen. In die Praxis aufgenommen, könnte der Ansatz des Responsible Interactive Behavioral Design zu marktfähigen Lösungen beitragen, um zentrale Verbraucherschutz-Aspekte zu adressieren. |
| Keywords: | Behavioral economics, consumer protection, field study, smartphone app, behavioral design |
| JEL: | C93 D82 D91 L86 O33 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:325495 |
| By: | Bachas, Pierre; Brockmeyer, Anne; Ferreira, Alipio; Sarr, Bassirou |
| Abstract: | Can algorithms enhance bureaucrats’ work in developing countries? In data-poor environments, bureaucrats often exercise discretion over key decisions, such as audit selection. Exploiting newly digitized micro-data, this study conducted an at-scale field experiment whereby half of Senegal’s annual audit program was selected by tax inspectors and the other half by a transparent risk-scoring algorithm. The algorithm-selected audits were 18 percentage points less likely to be conducted, detected 89% less evasion, were less cost-effective, and did not reduce corruption. Moreover, even a machine-learning algorithm would only have moderately raised detected evasion. These results are consistent with bureaucrats’ expertise, the task complexity, and inherent data limitations. |
| Date: | 2025–09–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:11205 |
| By: | Klaus Abberger; Alexander Rathke; Samad Sarferaz; Pascal Seiler |
| Abstract: | We study the investment channel of monetary policy through a randomized survey experiment, exposing Swiss firms directly to shocks to the Swiss National Bank's policy rate. Our survey experiment randomizes pure policy-rate shocks - uncontaminated by information effects - and records firms' revisions to investment plans and financing choices. We find pronounced asymmetry: firms respond strongly to unanticipated rate hikes but only moderately to equivalent cuts. This asymmetry varies with firm size, sector, export intensity, and investment types. Investment financing shapes the response: reliance on internal funds and being financially unconstrained amplifies investment sensitivity. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy, investment, firm heterogeneity, survey experiment, external finance, randomized control trial |
| JEL: | E22 E52 C93 G32 D22 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12099 |
| By: | Karthik Muralidharan; Abhijeet Singh |
| Abstract: | Many interventions that “work” in small-scale trials often fail at scale, highlighting the centrality of effective scaling for realizing the promise of evidence-based policy. We study the scaling of a personalized adaptive learning (PAL) software that was highly effective in a small-scale trial. We adapt the PAL implementation for scalability by integrating it into public school schedules, and experimentally evaluate this adaptation in a more representative sample over 20 times larger than the original study. After 18 months, treated students scored 0.22σ higher in Mathematics and 0.20σ higher in Hindi, a 50–66% productivity increase over the control group. Learning gains were proportional to student time on the platform, providing a simple, low-cost metric for monitoring implementation quality in future scale-ups. The adaptation was cost effective, and its key design features make it widely scalable across diverse settings. |
| JEL: | C93 I21 O15 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:34205 |
| By: | Laura Gómez Ruiz (Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Natalia Jiménez-Jiménez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Maria Jesús Sánchez-Expósito (Universidad Pablo de Olavide) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how the design of ex-ante information (given before decisions are taken) affects the cooperative decisions made by team members, depending on their inclination to cooperate. Also analyzed is the effect of this information on cognitive conflict (when an agent internally experiences contrary demands or opposing forces). Moreover, the relationship between cognitive conflict and cooperation is explored. We design an experiment in which participants play 15 rounds, in pairs, of three social dilemmas. The ex-ante information is manipulated in three different ways: displaying only private and individual earnings (the “I” frame); displaying the joint profits (the “We” frame); and displaying both types of information (the “I&We” frame). Mouse movements are tracked using a specific software. Individual inclinations to cooperate are measured using the Honesty-Humility (HH) dimension of the HEXACO personality model. The agents are classified as HH_highs (high tendency to cooperate) and HH_lows (low tendency to cooperate). We measure the cooperation level as the percentage of cooperative decisions and the cognitive conflict level based on the curvature of mouse movements. Ex-ante information design is not found to affect cooperation levels in the case of HH_highs but does affect cognitive conflict levels. The opposite is observed for HH_lows. The main result is therefore that the cooperation of non-cooperative agents can be increased through framing (“I&We” being the best framing). No effect on cognitive conflict is found for HH_lows. Finally, a relationship between cognitive conflict and cooperative decisions for HH_highs is only observed in the case of the “I&We” frame. |
| Keywords: | cognitive conflict; ex-ante information design; cooperation; HEXACO; mouse tracking. |
| JEL: | C72 C92 D83 D91 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:25.06 |
| By: | Obst, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Many employees work more than they would prefer. This paper examines whether social comparisons contribute to this mismatch by inducing individuals to prioritize income over leisure. I use a within-subject survey experiment with university students in which participants repeatedly choose between higher income and reduced working hours under two conditions: one where their choice affects relative income and one where it does not. When upward comparisons are present, the share choosing higher income rises from 36% to 47%, consistent with status concerns driving longer working hours. The design mirrors a prisoner's dilemma: individuals prefer shorter hours but work more to avoid falling behind in income. When the additional income is tied to specific spending categories, the strongest increases in choosing higher income occur for clothing and shoes, food, education, health, and private pension plans-indicating that status concerns extend beyond conspicuous consumption to include long-term investments. Consistent with an established measure of status sensitivity (Solnick & Hemenway, 1998), status-oriented individuals respond more strongly to relative income cues. These findings suggest that labor supply decisions can exhibit positional externalities, with implications for working-time coordination and employee wellbeing |
| Keywords: | social comparisons, labor supply, working time preferences, status competition, positional externalities, income inequality |
| JEL: | J22 D91 J31 D31 C83 C99 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifsowp:325831 |
| By: | Natalia Jiménez-Jiménez (Universidad Pablo de Olavide); Elena Molis-Bañales (Universidad de Granada); Ángel Solano-García (Universidad de Granada) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we analyze theoretically and experimentally the relationship of tax avoidance and voting decisions over the size of taxation. We propose a basic model of redistributive politics in which there are two types of voters (skilled and unskilled workers) and two exogenous tax schemes to vote for. We design a laboratory experiment to test the results of the model. We consider a control treatment where tax avoidance is not feasible. In the main treatments, only the high skilled workers are allowed to avoid taxes with a fixed cost that varies in two different treatments. We also consider two additional treatments with explicit or implicit information about tax avoidance decisions. The impossibility of tax avoidance favors the support for the high tax rate. A sufficiently high cost of tax avoidance makes unskilled workers vote mostly for a low tax rate and skilled workers opt for almost no tax avoidance. Nevertheless, if tax avoidance is cheap enough, a higher than predicted proportion of unskilled workers still vote for the low tax rate, even in a high tax avoidance context. The only effect of information occurs when the cost of tax avoidance is low, and it entails a decrease in tax avoidance levels. Finally, regardless the tax avoidance cost, a higher rate of tax avoidance yields to a higher likelihood of unskilled workers voting for the high tax rate, and, vice versa, a higher probability of voting for the high tax rate results in a higher tax avoidance level. |
| Keywords: | tax avoidance; voting; income inequality; real-effort task; information. |
| JEL: | C92 D72 H26 H30 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:25.07 |
| By: | Felix Chopra; Ingar K. Haaland; Fabian Roeben; Christopher Roth; Vanessa Sticher |
| Abstract: | News outlets compete for engagement rather than reader satisfaction, leading to persistent mismatches between consumer demand and the supply of news. We test whether offering people the opportunity to customize the news can address this mismatch by unbundling presentation from coverage. In our AI-powered news app, users can customize article characteristics, such as the complexity of the writing or the extent of opinion, while holding the underlying news event constant. Using rich news consumption data from large-scale field experiments, we uncover substantial heterogeneity in news preferences. While a significant fraction of users demand politically aligned news, the vast majority of users display a high and persistent demand for less opinionated and more fact-driven news. Customization also leads to a better match between the news consumed and stated preferences, increasing news satisfaction. |
| Keywords: | news consumption, customization, artificial intelligence, matching |
| JEL: | C93 D83 L82 P00 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12121 |
| By: | Massimo Bordignon (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Nicolò Gatti (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore); Gilberto Turati (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore; Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how raising awareness of public debt sustainability affects individual attitudes toward debt reduction and fiscal policy preferences. Using a survey experiment on a representative sample of the Italian population, we randomly assign objective information about government debt to citizens, who become more sensitive to the risks of tax increases, spending cuts, and imbalances for future generations. We find no effect on the perception of debt reduction as an urgent policy priority. While remaining highly averse to any tax increase, treated respondents support spending cuts (but not in education and health care) as a policy to reduce the debt burden. We also show that subjects with distorted beliefs about government debt are no more responsive to the information treatment than subjects with correct beliefs, shedding light on the challenges of building a voting majority for debt-stabilizing policies. |
| Keywords: | public debt; fiscal policies; beliefs; information. |
| JEL: | H63 H31 D83 |
| Date: | 2025–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctc:serie1:def144 |
| By: | Si, Yafei; Meng, Yurun; Chen, Xi; An, Ruopeng; Mao, Limin; Li, Bingqin; Bateman, Hazel; Zhang, Han; Fan, Hongbin; Zu, Jiaqi; Gong, Shaoqing; Zhou, Zhongliang; Miao, Yudong; Fan, Xiaojing; Chen, Gang |
| Abstract: | The rapid development of AI solutions reveals opportunities to address the underdiagnosis and poor management of chronic conditions in developing settings. Using the method of simulated patients and experimental designs, we evaluate the quality, safety, and disparity of medical consultation with ERNIE Bot in China among 384 patient-AI trials. ERNIE Bot reached a diagnostic accuracy of 77.3%, correct drug prescriptions of 94.3%, but prescribed high rates of unnecessary medical tests (91.9%) and unnecessary medications (57.8%). Disparities were observed based on patient age and household economic status, with older and wealthier patients receiving more intensive care. Under standardized conditions, ERNIE Bot, ChatGPT, and DeepSeek demonstrated higher diagnostic accuracy but a greater tendency toward overprescription than human physicians. The results suggest the great potential of ERNIE Bot in empowering quality, accessibility, and affordability of healthcare provision in developing contexts but also highlight critical risks related to safety and amplification of sociodemographic disparities. |
| Keywords: | Generative AI, simulated patient, healthcare, quality and safety, health disparities |
| JEL: | C0 I10 I11 C90 C93 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1665 |
| By: | Gaertner, Wulf; Li, Yi |
| Abstract: | We present findings of an experimental study of negotiations over the share of a monetary loss. Groups of four agents with differing initial endowments must unanimously agree on the contribution that each member is expected to make so that a financial loss imposed on the group is covered. Two types of proposals are of particular interest: Either the agent with the lowest endowment or the agents with the lowest and second lowest endowment are to be exempted from any monetary contribution. These types of proposals can be related to alternative models of loss sharing that will be briefly discussed before presenting the experimental results. We find that exempting the agent with the lowest endowment only was expressed in 120 proposals, exempting the lowest and the second lowest agents only accounted for 50% of all 428 proposals. We consider two different treatments in case of no agreement among the group members, namely a random mechanism among all the proposals made before the bargaining procedure has ended, and, alternatively, a decision taken by the experimenter after bargaining time has elapsed. We also discuss a third type of proposal that we call “other exemptions” which contains rather nasty loss-division proposals that contradict the very idea of fairness and examine our findings in such contexts particularly under the aspect of gender difference. |
| Keywords: | exemption from any contribution; experimental bargaining; gender differences; loss sharing |
| JEL: | C91 D63 D71 |
| Date: | 2025–09–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:129535 |
| By: | Alexander Erlei |
| Abstract: | Generative AI is transforming the provision of expert services. This article uses a series of one-shot experiments to quantify the behavioral, welfare and distribution consequences of large language models (LLMs) on AI-AI, Human-Human, Human-AI and Human-AI-Human expert markets. Using a credence goods framework where experts have private information about the optimal service for consumers, we find that Human-Human markets generally achieve higher levels of efficiency than AI-AI and Human-AI markets through pro-social expert preferences and higher consumer trust. Notably, LLM experts still earn substantially higher surplus than human experts -- at the expense of consumer surplus - suggesting adverse incentives that may spur the harmful deployment of LLMs. Concurrently, a majority of human experts chooses to rely on LLM agents when given the opportunity in Human-AI-Human markets, especially if they have agency over the LLM's (social) objective function. Here, a large share of experts prioritizes efficiency-loving preferences over pure self-interest. Disclosing these preferences to consumers induces strong efficiency gains by marginalizing self-interested LLM experts and human experts. Consequently, Human-AI-Human markets outperform Human-Human markets under transparency rules. With obfuscation, however, efficiency gains disappear, and adverse expert incentives remain. Our results shed light on the potential opportunities and risks of disseminating LLMs in the context of expert services and raise several regulatory challenges. On the one hand, LLMs can negatively affect human trust in the presence of information asymmetries and partially crowd-out experts' other-regarding preferences through automation. On the other hand, LLMs allow experts to codify and communicate their objective function, which reduces information asymmetries and increases efficiency. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.06069 |
| By: | Crispin Cooper; Ana Fredrich; Tommaso Reggiani; Wouter Poortinga |
| Abstract: | How should well-being be prioritised in society, and what trade-offs are people willing to make between fairness and personal well-being? We investigate these questions using a stated preference experiment with a nationally representative UK sample (n = 300), in which participants evaluated life satisfaction outcomes for both themselves and others under conditions of uncertainty. Individual-level utility functions were estimated using an Expected Utility Maximisation (EUM) framework and tested for sensitivity to the overweighting of small probabilities, as characterised by Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT). A majority of participants displayed concave (risk-averse) utility curves and showed stronger aversion to inequality in societal life satisfaction outcomes than to personal risk. These preferences were unrelated to political alignment, suggesting a shared normative stance on fairness in well-being that cuts across ideological boundaries. The results challenge use of average life satisfaction as a policy metric, and support the development of nonlinear utility-based alternatives that more accurately reflect collective human values. Implications for public policy, well-being measurement, and the design of value-aligned AI systems are discussed. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.07793 |
| By: | Matilda Gettins; Lorenz Meister |
| Abstract: | Populist parties increasingly deploy narratives of social injustice to portray climate policy as elitist and unfair. This paper investigates how such narratives affect public attitudes toward populism and democratic institutions. We conduct a survey experiment with approximately 1, 600 respondents in Germany, exposing participants to three common narratives about the distributional costs of climate policy. Our findings show that the narrative emphasizing disproportionate burdens on low-income households significantly increases climate-populist attitudes and reduces satisfaction with democracy. These effects are particularly pronounced among low-income, East German, and conservative voters. By contrast, the narrative that companies can circumvent the cost of climate action fosters climate populism among left-leaning individuals. The results suggest that the framing of how the costs of climate policy are distributed strongly shapes its political acceptance and vulnerability to populist mobilization. |
| Keywords: | Climate policy, populism, narratives, distribution |
| JEL: | Q54 D72 Q58 H23 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp2139 |
| By: | Georgy Lukyanov; David Li |
| Abstract: | This paper studies a two-player game in which the players face uncertainty regarding the nature of their partner. In this variation of the standard Prisoner's Dilemma, players may encounter an 'honest' type who always cooperates. Mistreating such a player imposes a moral cost on the defector. This situation creates a trade-off, resolved in favor of cooperation if the player's trust level, or belief in their partner's honesty, is sufficiently high. We investigate whether an environment where players have explicit beliefs about each other's honesty is more or less conducive to cooperation, compared to a scenario where players are entirely uncertain about their partner's beliefs. We establish that belief diversity hampers cooperation in environments where the level of trust is relatively low and boosts cooperation in environments with a high level of trust. |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2509.08851 |
| By: | Joop Age Harm Adema; Lasha Chargaziia; Yvonne Giesing; Sarah Necker; Panu Poutvaara |
| Abstract: | Refugees' decisions to return after conflict carry significant political and economic implications for the origin and host countries. We examine how conflict resolution, security, economic conditions, and corruption influence return decisions. To estimate the causal effect of post-war conditions, we conducted a single-profile conjoint experiment among 2543 Ukrainian refugees across 30 European countries. Respondents were asked how likely they would be to return to Ukraine under different hypothetical scenarios. Results show that territorial integrity and security guarantees are critical, while economic prospects and combating corruption also play an important role. Refugees planning to return are more responsive to different post-war scenarios, and younger respondents are particularly influenced by income opportunities, job prospects, and potential EU accession. Our findings suggest that targeted political and economic reconstruction policies can substantially influence post-conflict return. In the most optimistic scenario, the expected return rate is 47%; in the most pessimistic scenario, only 3%. |
| Keywords: | refugees, return migration, conflict, integration, Ukraine, conjoint experiment |
| JEL: | F22 D74 O15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_12118 |
| By: | Kensuke Sakamoto; Yuya Shimizu |
| Abstract: | OLS estimators are widely used in network experiments to estimate spillover effects via regressions on exposure mappings that summarize treatment and network structure. We study the causal interpretation and inference of such OLS estimators when both design-based uncertainty in treatment assignment and sampling-based uncertainty in network links are present. We show that correlations among elements of the exposure mapping can contaminate the OLS estimand, preventing it from aggregating heterogeneous spillover effects for clear causal interpretation. We derive the estimator's asymptotic distribution and propose a network-robust variance estimator. Simulations and an empirical application reveal sizable contamination bias and inflated spillover estimates. |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2506.22989 |