nep-neu New Economics Papers
on Neuroeconomics
Issue of 2021‒10‒18
three papers chosen by



  1. Can Non-Cognitive Skills Explain The Gender Wage Gap In Russia? An Unconditional Quantile Regression Approach By Ksenia V. Rozhkova; Natalya Yemelina; Sergey Yu. Roshchin
  2. Adaptive Rationality in Strategic Interaction: Do Emotions Regulate Thinking about Others? By Timo Ehrig; Monica Jaison Manjaly; Aditya Singh; Shyam Sunder
  3. Promoting school readiness through a preschool feeding program: A nutritional nudge to improve at-risk preschooler’s cognitive development in Armenia By Knauer, Heather A.; Balasanyan, Sona; Bakhshinyan, Elmira; Alderman, Harold

  1. By: Ksenia V. Rozhkova (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Natalya Yemelina (National Research University Higher School of Economics); Sergey Yu. Roshchin (National Research University Higher School of Economics)
    Abstract: Non-cognitive skills are widely recognized in economics as an important factor that affects various individual outcomes, including wages and employment. Non-cognitive skills can also serve as an additional explanation for the gender wage gap. This paper disentangles the complex relationship between non-cognitive skills and the gender wage gap based on Russian data. Data are collected from a nationally representative Russian survey RLMS-HSE and include detailed information on individuals aged 20–60. We use the Big Five factor model, locus of control, and attitudes towards risk to represent non-cognitive skills. Our findings suggest that non-cognitive skills account for up to 8 per cent of the gender wage gap, although significant variation is observed with different measures of personality and across the wage distribution. We conclude that personality traits are noteworthy but not exhaustive factors in the gender wage gap, and there are other unobserved factors which researchers have yet to identify.
    Keywords: gender wage gap, non-cognitive skills, personality traits, unconditional quantile regression, Russia
    JEL: J16 J24 J31
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:252/ec/2021&r=
  2. By: Timo Ehrig (Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences, Leipzig); Monica Jaison Manjaly (Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar); Aditya Singh (Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar); Shyam Sunder (School of Management and Cowles Foundation, Yale University)
    Abstract: Forming beliefs or expectations about others’ behavior is fundamental to strategy, as it co-determines the outcomes of interactions in and across organizations. In the game theoretic conception of rationality, agents reason iteratively about each other to form expectations about behavior. According to prior scholarship, actual strategists fall short of this ideal, and attempts to understand the underlying cognitive processes of forming expectations about others are in their infancy. We propose that emotions help regulate iterative reasoning, that is, their tendency to not only reflect on what others think, but also on what others think about their thinking. Drawing on a controlled experiment, we ï¬ nd that a negative emotion (fear) deepens the tendency to engage in iterative reasoning, compared to a positive emotion (amusement). Moreover, neutral emotions yield even deeper levels of iterative reasoning. We tentatively interpret these early ï¬ ndings and speculate about the broader link of emotions and expectations in the context of strategic management. Extending the view of emotional regulation as a capability, emotions may be building blocks of rational heuristics for strategic interaction and enable interactive decision-making when strategists have little experience with the environment.
    Date: 2020–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2227r&r=
  3. By: Knauer, Heather A.; Balasanyan, Sona; Bakhshinyan, Elmira; Alderman, Harold
    Abstract: Many school feeding programs target child hunger, nutritional deficiencies, attendance, and education outcomes but often do not examine their effects on cognitive development. In this cluster-randomized controlled trial, we tested the effects of adding a morning snack to a school lunch program on the fluid intelligence of 951 children ages 4 to 6 years. While there were no significant effects on development overall, the morning snack improved short-term memory (STM) and total score on the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence, Fourth Edition (WPPSI-IV) among children from the lowest quartile of household expenditures (STM: 0.35SD, p = 0.020; WPPSI-IV: 0.65SD, p = 0.087), and those whose mothers completed secondary school or less (STM: 0.35SD, p = 0.002; total WPPSI-IV: 0.81SD, p = 0.011). For at risk preschoolers, school snack programs may help meet their developmental needs.
    Keywords: ARMENIA; ASIA; school feeding; school meals; children; cognitive development; preschool children; nutrition; WPPSI
    Date: 2021
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2046&r=

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