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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Nigus, Halefom; Mohnen, Pierre (RS: GSBE other - not theme-related research, QE Econometrics); Nillesen, Eleonora (RS: GSBE UM-BIC, Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MGSoG); Di Falco, S. |
| Abstract: | Using two lab-in-the-field experiments, we study whether initial transgression promote subsequent anti-social behavior. In the first stage subjects participated in an experimental market game. In the second stage, subjects were given an opportunity to participate in antisocial experiment. We find that subjects who impose a negative externality on uninvolved third parties in the market game are also more likely to burn their partner's income in the second experiment. This finding is consistent with a conscience-numbing effect but could possibly also be explained by participants' preferences for consistency. |
| JEL: | C93 D03 D62 D63 M14 |
| Date: | 2023–08–14 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2023027 |
| By: | Yohei Mitani; Nobuyuki Hanaki |
| Abstract: | We conduct an online donation dictator game experiment with over 1, 300 participants, representative of the Japanese population, to investigate the relationship between the incentive scheme and prosocial behavior by systematically varying the stake size and probability of being paid, including those where the expected payments are controlled. We find that stake size is the main driver of donation decisions, even in the hypothetical scenario. Our result suggests that paying a large amount to a few participants incentivizes donation decisions better than paying a small amount to many in large-scale online experiments Creation-Date: 2025-2 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1273 |
| By: | Jenny C. Aker (Cornell University; Center for Global Development); Brian Dillon (Cornell University); Leticia Donoso-Peña (Tufts University); Anne Krahn (Tufts University) |
| Abstract: | Willingness-to-pay (WTP) experiments have been widely used to assess demand for a variety of products. Do they also generate persistent treatment effects? We answer this question using a randomized controlled trial of a baseline WTP experiment, combined with in-person and phone survey data over a four-year period. We find that a simple experiment leads to positive and persistent effects on adoption and usage of an improved storage technology, as well as disadoption of traditional technologies. These results are primarily driven by households who experienced the product, rather than information or salience. Failing to account for demand elicitation experiments conducted at baseline may affect the external validity of the broader experiments in which they are embedded. |
| Keywords: | Willingness to pay, Becker-DeGroot-Marschak, Field Experiment, persistent treatment effects, agriculture |
| JEL: | O12 O13 C93 D44 |
| Date: | 2025–02–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:714 |
| By: | George Beknazar-Yuzbashev; Rafael Jiménez-Durán; Jesse McCrosky; Mateusz Stalinski |
| Abstract: | Most social media users have encountered harassment online, but there is scarce evidence of how this type of toxic content impacts engagement. In a pre-registered browser extension field experiment, we randomly hid toxic content for six weeks on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Lowering exposure to toxicity reduced advertising impressions, time spent, and other measures of engagement, and reduced the toxicity of user-generated content. A survey experiment provides evidence that toxicity triggers curiosity and that engagement and welfare are not necessarily aligned. Taken together, our results suggest that platforms face a trade-off between curbing toxicity and increasing engagement. |
| Keywords: | toxic content, moderation, social media, user engagement, browser experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D12 D83 D90 I31 L82 L86 M37 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11644 |
| By: | Fabian Herweg; Daniel Müller; Asri Özgümüs; Fabio Römeis |
| Abstract: | We present a theory of context-dependent risk preferences under which within-state payoff comparisons and regret aversion shape decisions. Defining the attraction and compromise effect in reference to a state-space-based description of the choice problem, we show that our theory can account for both these prominent decoy effects. We test our theoretical predictions with an online experiment, including comparative statics results. We find strong evidence for the attraction and the compromise effect. Furthermore, we find some supportive evidence for our comparative static predictions and weakly diminishing sensitivity regarding ex-post regret. |
| Keywords: | asymmetric dominance effect, attraction effect, compromise effect, context-dependent preferences, correlation-sensitive preferences, decoy effect, regret theory |
| JEL: | C91 D01 D81 D91 M31 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11611 |
| By: | Rossello, Giulia; Martinelli, Arianna |
| Abstract: | This paper presents experimental evidence on the impact of opposite copyright lobbies’ narratives on scholars’ views toward the publishing system. We conduct the empirical analysis by running a large-scale information provision experiment on a representative population of European scholars. Scholars were individually randomized into a control group or one of two promotional videos presenting opposite lobbying interests. The first video presents the publisher’s narrative, featuring publishers as innovative firms and the guardians of ethics and scientific advance. While the second presents copyright activists’ narrative featuring publishers as greedy and unethical. We document scholars’ general discontent towards the publishing system. However, both lobbyist narratives change perceptions towards their cause. Overall, publishers’ lobbyist information has a slightly smaller persuasive effect, linked to a small part of the population that exhibits a strong emotional reaction. Additional information is accompanied by a slight increase in the probability of taking the action of being informed, especially when we control for the scholar’s quality. |
| JEL: | D83 I23 O34 |
| Date: | 2023–03–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2023010 |
| By: | Roberto Galbiati (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Emeric Henry (Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Paris); 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 des Ponts ParisTech - 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: | Formal enforcement punishing defectors can sustain cooperation by changing incentives. In this paper, we introduce a second effect of enforcement: it can also affect the capacity to learn about the group's cooperativeness. Indeed, in contexts with strong enforcement, it is difficult to tell apart those who cooperate because of the threat of fines from those who are intrinsically cooperative types. Whenever a group is intrinsically cooperative, enforcement will thus have a negative dynamic effect on cooperation because it slows down learning about prevalent values in the group that would occur under a weaker enforcement. We provide theoretical and experimental evidence in support of this mechanism. Using a lab experiment with independent interactions and random rematching, we observe that, in early interactions, having faced an environment with fines in the past decreases current cooperation. We further show that this results from the interaction between enforcement and learning: the effect of having met cooperative partners has a stronger effect on current cooperation when this happened in an environment with no enforcement. Replacing one signal of deviation without fine by a signal of cooperation without fine in a player's history increases current cooperation by 10%; while replacing it by a signal of cooperation with fine increases current cooperation by only 5%. |
| Keywords: | Enforcement, social values, cooperation, learning, spillovers, repeated games, experiments |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseptp:hal-04511257 |
| By: | Keenan, Michael; Koo, Jawoo; Mwangi, Christine; 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 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2321 |
| By: | Michael Kosfeld; Zahra Sharafi; Maíra Sontag González; Na Zou |
| Abstract: | Developing reliable and practicable measures of economic preferences is a crucial task for empirical economic research with high value for both theory and applications. Here, we present results from a first comprehensive “behavioral validation analysis” of the Global Preference Survey Module (GPS) and the corresponding Preference Survey Module (PSM) developed by Falk et al. (2018, 2023) that have been widely used for the measurement and analysis of economic preferences on a global scale. Our key questions are how well GPS and PSM modules explain behavior in incentivized choice experiments in other countries than in the original validation in Germany, and to what extent survey items and modules developed from behavioral experiments in different countries and cultures resemble one another. Our current results, which are based on experiments in three very diverse countries—China, Iran, and Kenya—show that many GPS and PSM survey items predict behavior in incentivized choice experiments, but coefficients vary and are not always sizable. Quantitative items, which are based on hypothetical choice experiments, are consistently selected into survey modules, whereas the best qualitative items differ between countries. At the same time, the contribution in terms of explanatory power of these latter items is comparably lower. Our analysis provides a first empirical basis for the development of survey modules that reliably predict behavior in incentivized choice experiments and real-life situations across diverse countries and contexts. Additional results, including principal component analysis and prediction of real-life behavior, highlight important gaps that warrant further investigation in future research. |
| Keywords: | economic preference, measurement, survey, experiment |
| JEL: | C83 C91 D01 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11631 |
| By: | 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); Stéphane Luchini; Jason Shogren; Adam Zylbersztejn |
| Abstract: | Under incomplete contracts, the mutual belief in reciprocity facilitates how traders create value through economic exchange. Creating such beliefs among strangers can be challenging even when they are allowed to communicate, because communication is cheap. In this paper, we first extend the literature showing that a truth-telling oath increases honesty to a sequential trust game with pre-play, fixed-form, and cheap-talk communication. Our results confirm that the oath creates more trust and cooperative behavior thanks to an improvement in communication; but we also show that the oath induces selection into communication -it makes people more wary of using communication, precisely because communication speaks louder under oath. We next designed additional treatments featuring mild and deterrent fines for deception to measure the monetary equivalent of the non-monetary incentives implemented by a truth-telling oath. We find that the oath is behaviorally equivalent to mild fines. The deterrent fine induces the highest level of cooperation. Altogether, these results confirm that allowing for interactions under oath within a trust game with communication creates significantly more economic value than the identical exchange institutions without the oath. |
| Keywords: | Trust game, cooperation, communication, commitment, deception, fine, oath |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-04722343 |
| By: | Paul Hufe; Daniel Weishaar |
| Abstract: | The measurement of preferences often relies on surveys in which individuals evaluate hypothetical scenarios. This paper proposes and validates a novel factorial survey tool to measure fairness preferences. We examine whether a non-incentivized survey captures the same distributional preferences as an impartial spectator design, where choices may apply to a real person. In contrast to prior studies, our design involves high stakes, with respondents determining a real person’s monthly earnings, ranging from $500 to $5, 700. We find that the non-incentivized survey module yields nearly identical results compared to the incentivized experiment and recovers fairness preferences that are stable over time. Furthermore, we show that most respondents adopt intermediate fairness positions, with fewer exhibiting strictly egalitarian or libertarian preferences. In sum, these findings suggest that high-stake incentives do not significantly impact the measurement of fairness preferences and that non-incentivized survey questions covering realistic scenarios offer valuable insights into the nature of these preferences. |
| Keywords: | fairness preferences, survey experiment, vignette studies |
| JEL: | C90 D63 I39 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11647 |
| 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: | Formal enforcement punishing defectors can sustain cooperation by changing incentives. In this paper we introduce a second effect of enforcement: it can also affect the capacity to learn about the group's cooperativeness. Indeed, in contexts with strong enforcement, it is difficult to tell apart those who cooperate because of the threat of fines from those who are intrinsically cooperative types. Enforcement can then potentially have a negative dynamic impact on cooperation when it prevents learning. We provide theoretical and experimental evidence in support of this mechanism. Using a lab experiment with independent interactions and random rematching, we observe that, in early interactions, having faced an environment with fines in the past decreases current cooperation. We further show that this results from the interaction between enforcement and learning: the effect of having met cooperative partners has a stronger effect on current cooperation when this happened in an environment with no enforcement. |
| Keywords: | Enforcement, social values, cooperation, learning, spillovers, repeated games, experiments |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-04800439 |
| By: | Nobuyuki Hanaki; Yuta Shimodaira |
| Abstract: | Some researchers claim that a preference for wealth accumulation is the main cause of the long-run stagnation of the Japanese economy. A theoretical implication of people having such a preference, in particular of an assumption that the marginal utility of wealth accumulation has a positive lower bound while that of consumption does not, is the widening of wealth inequality. We experimentally test this theoretical prediction by inducing wealth preference in the laboratory. We found partial support for this prediction without the activation of participants’ status concerns. However, when the status concerns were activated by displaying the accumulated wealth ranking, that wealth inequality widened, especially when the initial inequality was large. These results suggest that status concern is an important reason behind wealth preference. |
| Date: | 2024–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1260r |
| By: | Rory Allanson (University of Strathclyde); Matthew Robson (Erasmus University Rotterdam and Tinbergen Institute) |
| Abstract: | We develop a social choice experiment to estimate public preferences on population ethics. Our experiment poses three within-subject treatments in which participants allocate scarce resources to determine the health-related quality-of-life, and existence, of two population groups. Within a flexible social welfare function, we estimate participant-level preferences for inequality aversion, average vs total welfare maximisation, and minimum `critical level' thresholds. By combining random behavioural and random utility models we also explicitly model `noise' in decision making. Using a sample of British adults (n=115, obs.=5, 060), we find that 98.7% of respondents are inequality averse, prioritising the worst-off at the expense of efficiently maximising overall health. The modal group of participants (39.2%) maximise total welfare and have a critical level threshold of zero, however there is extensive heterogeneity in participants' population preferences. We then demonstrate how these preferences can aid policymaking, where difficult trade-offs emerge between equity and efficiency, average and total welfare, and population size. |
| Keywords: | Experiment, Health, Social Welfare, Inequality, Population Ethics |
| JEL: | C90 D63 I18 |
| Date: | 2024–11–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20240067 |
| By: | Hamlin, Daniel; Peltier, Corey (University of Oklahoma); Reeder, Stacy |
| Abstract: | Rigorous evaluations have consistently demonstrated that high impact tutoring is one of the most effective ways to accelerate student learning. However, few studies compare the effects of high impact tutoring to alternative interventions, and even less scholarship tests for differences within tutoring models based on tutoring group size. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a university-led high impact tutoring model on ninth-grade mathematics achievement at seven high schools. A randomized controlled trial design was used for three separate cohorts of ninth-grade students. In the pooled sample, students (n = 524) in the treatment group participated in high impact tutoring (i.e., student-tutor groups of 2:1 or 3:1) three times a week for an entire academic year. In the control group, students (n = 438) attended a remediation mathematics course. The treatment group showed a difference of approximately a half-year of additional learning (0.14 SD) compared to the control group although both groups achieved academic growth that considerably exceeded expected growth trajectories for ninth-grade students. Results also showed that 2:1 student-tutor groups did not outperform 3:1 student-tutor groups, suggesting that 3:1 student-tutor ratios can be used to expand high impact tutoring with no detrimental effects on academic performance. Considering the well-documented logistical and financial barriers to high impact tutoring, our work indicates that remedial courses may also be a cost-effective alternative in cases when resources for high impact tutoring are limited. |
| Date: | 2024–08–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:edarxi:kqdfp_v1 |
| By: | Chavent, Ann; Bartels, Anthony; Pion, Paul D.; Rishniw, Mark |
| Abstract: | OBJECTIVE: To assess whether VIN Foundation student debt counseling of newly graduated veterinarians impacts financial behavior and reduces stress associated with student debt management. SAMPLES: 143 class of 2021 newly graduated veterinarians. METHODS: Participants, randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, first completed a pre-study survey to assess their attitudes towards personal finance, their perceived importance of various components of financial well-being, their self-reported personal finance proficiency and behaviors, their student loan repayment priorities, intended strategy, and monthly repayment, and their satisfaction with the veterinary profession. The experimental group then received individual student loan counseling with a VIN Foundation counselor via an online questionnaire and message board. The control group received no counseling. Both groups completed a post-study survey concurrently at the conclusion of the study. RESULTS AND RELEVANCE: Approximately half of all participants chose income-driven repayment plans, whose lower monthly payments confer less cash flow risk in the volatile period after graduation. Some in the experimental group remained with riskier time-driven plans due to non-financial factors. The VIN Foundation student loan counseling correlated positively with the experimental group gaining confidence in their student loan repayment plans and their financial satisfaction, proficiency, and budgeting behaviors. The counseling also received high scores for satisfaction with the service. The persistently ambivalent feelings about the profession by study participants suggest a need for further study and solutions for the comprehensive well-being of new graduate veterinarians. |
| Date: | 2024–07–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:edarxi:7wk24_v1 |
| By: | Martorano, Bruno (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MGSoG); Günther, Isabel |
| Abstract: | Previous studies on preferences for redistribution have shown that even though information on inequality changes concerns about inequality, it barely changes redistributive preferences. In an online experiment, we challenge previous results by showing US citizens a short video with facts on both inequality and social mobility and test the impact on different redistributive policies. Information on inequality of outcomes increases consensus on a more progressive tax system, whereas information on lack of equal opportunities increases participants’ preferences for redistribution via fiscal spending. Both informational treatments have a stronger impact when participants also learn that higher inequality is not a necessary part of economic development. All informational treatments have a stronger impact for citizens, who underestimate the current level of inequality and trust the government. |
| JEL: | D31 D63 D90 H20 H40 |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2023017 |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Dauda, Bawa; Balana, Bedru; Edeh, Hyacinth; Shi, Weilun |
| Abstract: | This note describes a labelling experiment introduced to crates of tomatoes cool transported from the northeast region of Nigeria to Lagos or Port Harcourt. A label was attached to a random sample of crates to ensure that the quality of tomatoes is orthogonal to the labels and the destination market was not informed of the experiment. The label contained the information on (a) the project (IFPRI), (b) the transportation method (cool transportation), and (c) the origin of tomatoes (Jos or Gombe), as shown below. The experiment was conducted in the first rounds from Jos and Gombe (Lagos), and the fifth round from Jos (Port Harcourt). As expected, the labeled crates were priced higher than the unlabeled crates. About 9 to 33% of the sale price is attributed to improved information on the quality of tomatoes via the labels. |
| Keywords: | labelling; prices; tomatoes; capacity building; labelling; cold chains; experimental design |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:cgiarp:168929 |
| By: | Florian Heine; Arno Riedl |
| Abstract: | Economic and social situations where groups have to compete are ubiquitous. Such group contests create both a coordination problem within and between groups. Introducing leaders may help to mitigate these coordination problems. However, little is known about the effect of leadership in group contests. We conduct a group contest experiment, comparing two types of leadership—leading-by-example and transactional leadership— and investigating the effect of communication between leaders. We find that the introduction of leaders tends to increase contest investment, except for when leaders of competing groups can communicate. Transactional leaders increase followers’ investment through the allocation of a relatively larger share of the prize to followers who have invested more. Communication between leaders decreases contest investments when there is leading-by-example but not when there is transactional leadership. Overall, leaders do not mitigate the over-investment problem in group contests. |
| Keywords: | rent-seeking, group contest, leadership |
| JEL: | C92 D03 D72 D74 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11655 |
| By: | Kene Boun My; Quang-Huy Nguyen; Phu Nguyen-Van; Thi Kim Cuong Pham; Anne Stenger; Tuyen Tiet; Nguyen To-The |
| Abstract: | This study uses a quantitative approach based on a discrete choice experiment with 586 farmers in Northern Vietnam to measure how representative market and non-market factors could influence their preferences for participating in organic certification schemes. Our results suggest that a sales contract with either flexible or guaranteed prices is a significant incentive to explain their willingness to pay higher production costs to be involved in organic certification schemes. Furthermore, providing farmers with training and technical support is also essential to motivate farmers toward organic agriculture. Finally, neighborhood cooperatives and formal leaders' participation in organic certification could encourage farmers to convert to organic agriculture. |
| Keywords: | Discrete choice experiment; Organic certification; Farmers' preferences; Leadership; Role of network |
| JEL: | C93 D10 Q00 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2025-6 |
| By: | Thiemo Fetzer (University of Warwick [Coventry]); Pedro Souza (QMUL - Queen Mary University of London); Oliver Vanden Eynde (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, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - 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); Austin Wright (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | How domestic constituents respond to signals of weakness in foreign wars remains an important question in international relations. This paper studies the impact of battlefield casualties and media coverage on public demand for war termination. To identify the effect of troop fatalities, we leverage the timing of survey collection across respondents from nine members of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan. Quasi‐experimental evidence demonstrates that battlefield casualties increase the news coverage of Afghanistan and the public demand for withdrawal. Evidence from a survey experiment replicates the main results. To shed light on the media mechanism, we leverage a news pressure design and find that major sporting matches occurring around the time of battlefield casualties drive down subsequent coverage, and significantly weaken the effect of casualties on support for war termination. These results highlight the role that media play in shaping public support for foreign military interventions. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-04815986 |
| By: | Yamauchi, Futoshi; Dauda, Bawa; Balana, Bedru; Edeh, Hyacinth; Shi, Weilun |
| Abstract: | A randomized controlled trial was introduced to see impacts of cool transportation that connects three vegetable markets in northeast and two large demand centers in southern regions of Nigeria. This note summarizes the findings from the midpoint analysis. First, the impact of cool transportation is large and statistically significant. Sales price, revenue and profit significantly increase for marketers. Second, impacts on sales price are quantitatively large, and a larger portion of sales price increase is attributed to refrigeration, that is, quality preservation through cooling. About 70% of the increase comes from cooling; only 30% from transportation. Third, impacts on revenue and profit, relative to non-cool transportation, are also quantitatively large. In particular, the analysis shows a large proportional increase in profit. |
| Keywords: | capacity building; coolers; transport; randomized controlled trials; markets |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:cgiarp:168914 |
| 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; Africa; Eastern Africa; Ethiopia |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2309 |
| By: | Werner, Dominick; Adam, Martin; Benlian, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Website providers find it increasingly difficult to convince users to accept advertisements (ads) on their websites. In this study, we investigate ad quantity customization (AQC) as a practice to counter these challenges. AQC refers to the technological means through which website providers enable users to determine the amount of ads displayed on their websites. Drawing on psychological empowerment theory, we demonstrate in an online experiment with 395 participants that AQC can pay off: A website with AQC elicits significantly higher website stickiness than a website without AQC, even if the website without AQC contains no ads at all. We furthermore find that perceived empowerment, informational fit-to-task and perceived enjoyment mediate the effect of AQC on website stickiness. Our study thus contributes to Information Systems research on web customization and offers website providers actionable recommendations to keep their users involved, interested and retained. |
| Date: | 2025–01–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:152502 |
| By: | Franz, Anjuli; Benlian, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Recent information privacy research has started to spark a debate about privacy infringements that happen not on an individual, but on a multi-party level. Here, a person's own information privacy is affected by the decisions of others – a phenomenon referred to as interdependent privacy. Building on the 3R Interdependent Privacy Protection Framework, we explore the underlying mechanisms of how and why interdependent privacy violations happen and how they can be remedied. Drawing on an online vignette experiment (N = 330), we investigate the efficacy of an interdependent privacy salience nudge and reveal that it can decrease the likelihood that users disclose others' personal information by 62%. Furthermore, we develop a novel measurement instrument and empirically validate that users' decision to disclose others' personal information to an online platform is formed via a serial mediation mechanism through users' realization of the data transfer, recognition of others' ownership, and respect for others' rights. We discuss important implications for both theory and practice. |
| Date: | 2025–01–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:152505 |
| By: | Vey, Meike (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI)); Namockel, Nils (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI)); Ruhnau, Oliver (Energiewirtschaftliches Institut an der Universitaet zu Koeln (EWI)) |
| Abstract: | Electric mobility and renewable energy play key roles in the global energy transition. In this context, vehicle-to-grid technology, which enables bidirectional energy flow between electric vehicles and the grid, could make electric vehicles usable as energy storage units, thus supporting grid stability and integration of renewable energy. However, the willingness of electric vehicle owners to participate in vehicle-to-grid contracts remains insufficiently understood, particularly regarding how they respond to specific contract attributes. This paper addresses this gap by conducting a discrete choice experiment to evaluate the preferences of current and potential future German electric vehicle drivers for various vehicle-to-grid contract alternatives. We find that cycle-based remuneration, flexible contract duration, and environmental nudging significantly enhance consumer acceptance. Conversely, a lower guaranteed battery level and longer minimum plug-in durations negatively impact participation. We also test how respondent characteristics influence participation and identify income-dependent preferences, such as lower-income individuals attributing a stronger preference to fixed daily payments than higher-income individuals. Our differentiated őndings may be used to improve contract designs and marketing efforts to address the unique V2G preferences of various user segments. |
| Keywords: | Vehicle-to-grid; Discrete choice experiment; Willingness to accept; Preferences; Bidirectional charging |
| JEL: | C25 D12 Q42 Q48 Q51 Q58 R41 |
| Date: | 2025–02–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:ewikln:2025_001 |
| By: | Francisco Blasques (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Paolo Gorgi (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Siem Jan Koopman (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute); Noah Stegehuis (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute) |
| Abstract: | The identification of causal effects of marketing campaigns (advertisements, discounts, promotions, loyalty programs) require the collection of experimental data. Such data sets frequently suffer from limited sample sizes due to constraints (time, budget) which can result in imprecise estimators and inconclusive outcomes. At the same time, companies passively accumulate observational data which oftentimes cannot be used to measure causal effects of marketing campaigns due to endogeneity issues. In this paper we show how estimation uncertainty of causal effects can be reduced by combining the two data sources by employing a self-regulatory weighting scheme that adapts to the underlying bias and variance. We also introduce an instrument-free exogeneity test designed to assess whether the observational data is significantly endogenous and experimentation is necessary. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, we implement the combined estimator for a real-life data set in which returning customers were awarded with a discount. We demonstrate how the indecisive result of the experimental data alone can be improved by our weighted estimator, and arrive to the conclusion that the loyalty discount has a notably negative effect on net sales. |
| Keywords: | endogeneity, data fusion, experimental data, observational data |
| JEL: | C51 C55 C93 |
| Date: | 2024–11–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20240066 |
| By: | Martorano, Bruno (Maastricht Graduate School of Governance, RS: GSBE MGSoG); Metzger, Laura; Justino, Patricia |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the effect of austerity on forms of political participation—including voting, appealing for reform, and peaceful protesting—and the role of preferences for redistribution in shaping the relationship between individual exposure to austerity and political participation. The paper focuses on the case of the United Kingdom (UK) where, between 2011 and 2019, wide-ranging austerity policies were introduced to deal with high public debt in the aftermath of the 2007–08 financial crisis. Cuts to government spending on public investment, services, and social protection, especially during the initial fiscal consolidation phase of 2011–15, led to significant welfare losses for the population. We provide evidence from observational microeconomic data and a large-scale online experiment in the UK showing that individual exposure to welfare losses from austerity increases political participation and strengthens preferences for government redistribution. The experimental data suggests that changes in individual preferences for redistribution significantly shape the effect of austerity on political participation. |
| JEL: | D31 D72 H53 H60 I38 |
| Date: | 2023–05–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2023016 |