New Economics Papers
on Neuroeconomics
Issue of 2011‒01‒30
five papers chosen by



  1. Smart and Dangerous: How Cognitive Skills Drive the Intergenerational Transmission of Retaliation By Henry, Ruby
  2. Cognitive abilities and behavior in strategic-form games.* By Ralph-C. Bayer; Ludovic Renou
  3. Self-regulation in securities markets By Carson, John
  4. The Equal Environments Assumption in the Post-Genomic Age: Using Misclassified Twins to Estimate Bias in Heritability Models By Dalton Conley; Emily Rauscher
  5. Sketching Envy from Philosophy to Psychology By Jérémy Celse

  1. By: Henry, Ruby (IZA)
    Abstract: A need exists to understand how people develop an aggressive, retaliatory conflict resolution policy vs. a more passive reconciliation stance. I contribute a choice-theoretic model that explains how cognitive skills drive the transmission of conflict resolution policies. A child’s resolution policy depends on parental effort and the influence of the outside environment. The model has the implication that high-cognitive parents socialize children to their conflict resolution culture more successfully than parents with low cognitive skills. Indeed, I test the model using the cognitive skills and conflict resolution skills of parents and children from the UK National Childhood Development Survey. I find that the parent’s effort is reinforced by the prevalence of their conflict resolution values in society. The data confirm that children of retaliating high-cognitive parents are more likely to be socialized to that resolution culture than children of low-cognitive retaliating parents when retaliation is more prominent in society.
    Keywords: socioemotional skills, cultural transmission, family influence
    JEL: D10 I20 J13
    Date: 2010–12
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5413&r=neu
  2. By: Ralph-C. Bayer; Ludovic Renou
    Abstract: This paper investigates the relation between cognitive abilities and behavior in strategic-form games with the help of a novel experiment. The design allows us first to measure the cognitive abilities of subjects without confound and then to evaluate their impact on behaviour in strategic-from games. We find that subjects with better cognitive abilities show more sophisticated behavior and make better use of information on cognitive abilities and preferences of opponents. Although we do not find evidence for Nash behavior, observed behaviour is remarkably sophisticated, as almost 80% of subjects behave near optimal and outperform Nash behavior with respect to expected pay-offs.
    Keywords: cognitive ability; behaviours; strategic-form games; experiments; preferences; sophistication
    JEL: C70 C91
    Date: 2011–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lec:leecon:11/16&r=neu
  3. By: Carson, John
    Abstract: This paper canvasses the trends in self-regulation and the role of self-regulation in securities markets in different parts of the world. The paper also describes the conditions in which self-regulation might be an effective element of securities markets regulation, particularly in emerging markets. Use of self-regulation and self-regulatory organizations is often recommended in emerging markets as part of a broader strategy aimed at improving the effectiveness of securities regulation and market integrity. According to the International Organization of Securities Commissions, reliance on self-regulation is an optional feature of a regulatory regime. Self-regulatory organizations may support better-regulated and more efficient capital markets, but the value of self-regulation is again being questioned in many countries. Forces such as commercialization of exchanges, development of stronger statutory regulatory authorities, consolidation of financial services industry regulatory bodies, and globalization of capital markets are affecting the scope and effectiveness of self-regulation -- and in particular the traditional role of securities exchanges as self-regulatory organizations.The paper reviews different models of self-regulation, including exchange self-regulatory organizations, member (or independent) self-regulatory organizations, and industry or dealers’ associations. It draws on examples of self-regulatory organizations from many markets to illustrate the degree of reliance on self-regulation, as well as the range of functions for which self-regulatory organizations are responsible, in markets around the world. Issues that are important to the effective operation of self-regulatory organizations are discussed, such as corporate governance, managing conflicts of interest, and regulatory oversight by government authorities.
    Keywords: Debt Markets,Regulatory Regimes,Public Sector Regulation,Emerging Markets,Markets and Market Access
    Date: 2011–01–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5542&r=neu
  4. By: Dalton Conley; Emily Rauscher
    Abstract: While it has long been known that genetic-environmental covariance is likely to be non-trivial and confound estimates of narrow-sense (additive) heritability for social and behavioral outcomes, there has not been an effective way to address this concern. Indeed, in a classic paper, Goldberger (1979) shows that by varying assumptions of the GE-covariance, a researcher can drive the estimated heritability of an outcome, such as IQ, down to zero or up close to one. Survey questions that attempt to measure directly the extent to which more genetically similar kin (such as monozygotic twins) also share more similar environmental conditions than, say, dizygotic twins, represent poor attempts to gauge a very complex underlying phenomenon of GE-covariance. Methods that rely on concordance between interviewer classification and self-report offer similar concerns about validity. In the present study, we take advantage of a natural experiment to address this issue from another angle: Misclassification of twin zygosity in a nationally-representative study (Add Health). Since such twins were reared under one “environmental regime of similarity” while genetically belonging to another group, this reverses the typical GE-covariance and allows us bounded estimates of heritability for a range of outcomes of interest to medical and behavioral scientists.
    JEL: I1 I21
    Date: 2011–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:16711&r=neu
  5. By: Jérémy Celse
    Abstract: What is envy and how can we define it so as to incorporate the emotion in economic models? Through referring on philosophical and psychological researches, this paper aims at deriving a stable and concise definition of the emotion of envy. Philosophy allows us to define the elements that form envy and to disentangle the latter from other emotions. Researches on psychology help us in understanding the affective and behavioural responses of the emotion. We conclude that envy arises from any unflattering social comparison that threatens individual self-evaluation and includes a depressive and a hostile dimension. We also discuss whether the behaviour induced by envy results in destructive or in emulative actions. We will disentangle the elements that might explain why envy does not always exert the subject to adopt a hostile attitude toward the envied.
    Date: 2010
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lam:wpaper:22-10&r=neu

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