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on Discrete Choice Models |
| By: | Fabian Dvorak; Urs Fischbacher |
| Abstract: | Despite strong evidence for peer effects, little is known about how individuals balance intrinsic preferences and social learning in different choice environments. Using a combination of experiments and discrete choice modeling, we show that intrinsic preferences and social learning jointly influence participants' decisions, but their relative importance varies across choice tasks and environments. Intrinsic preferences guide participants' decisions in a subjective choice task, while social learning determines participants' decisions in a task with an objectively correct solution. A choice environment in which people expect to be rewarded for their choices reinforces the influence of intrinsic preferences, whereas an environment in which people expect to be punished for their choices reinforces conformist social learning. We use simulations to discuss the implications of these findings for the polarization of behavior. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.18452&r=dcm |
| By: | Ajzenman, Nicolás; Balza, Lenin; Bejarano, Hernan; De Los Rios, Camilo; Gómez Parra, Nicolás |
| Abstract: | Using an online multi-country video-vignette survey experiment, we measure bias against extractive industries and foreign firms in individuals perceptions and preferences related to industrial projects with potential economic benefits and environmental costs. Individuals face a hypothetical industrial investment project with a randomly assigned implementing firm, which varies in one or two dimensions: nationality (foreign or national), and industrial sector (extractive or generic). We elicit several incentivized and non-incentivized measures of acceptance of hypothetical investments. We find a precisely estimated null effect on willingness to pay to block the projects across experimental treatments: respondents express similar reactions to the same information independently of the firms origin or industrial sector. |
| Keywords: | experimental economics;extractive industries;Perceptions;willingness– to–pay;valuation |
| JEL: | C90 D70 D90 L71 Q30 Q51 |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13325&r=dcm |
| By: | Peacock, Jacob Robert (The Humane League Labs) |
| Abstract: | Plant-based meats, like the Beyond Sausage or Impossible Burger, and cultivated meats have become a source of optimism for public health, environmental and animal welfare advocates hoping to mitigate the myriad harms of animal-based foods by replacing them with perfect alternatives. Some have proposed that these substitutes might soon replace animal-based meats based on the supposition that price, taste and convenience are the primary drivers of food choice. Thus, it is hypothesized that if a plant-based meat matches (or exceeds) its animal-based counterpart on the basis of these three criteria, consumption will largely shift from animal-based to plant-based. However, this hypothesis has received little critical attention. To fill this gap, we will review evidence testing the PTC hypothesis, including cross-sectional surveys, hypothetical discrete choice experiments, a field experiment and commercial case studies. Ultimately, given current consumer preferences, we do not find support for the PTC hypothesis. However, PBMs may still have important potential as a tool for reducing meat consumption. |
| Date: | 2024–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:dy76n&r=dcm |
| By: | David Powell (RAND Corporation); Jeffrey B. Wenger (RAND Corporation) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a series of stated preference experiments to determine the willingness of hiring and human resource managers to pay for certain job attributes. A cross section of U.S. hiring managers were given experimental vignettes about an existing employee or potential new hire. They were told that the candidate was indifferent to the job attributes, and they should select the job offer that was best for the firm. Job attributes consisted of measures of paid time off, paid leave, flexible work schedules, telecommuting opportunities, mandated weekends, and shift work. For each vignette we randomly generated a wage offer. Vignettes also randomly assigned a gendered pronoun (he/she) to the job candidate, as well as years-of-experience profile (two, 10, and 35 years). We find that firms are willing to pay a significant wage premium to avoid offering workers flexible work schedules, holding total hours worked fixed. Compared to no flexibility, employers were willing to pay 19% more to avoid workers having the choice between fixed schedules, 33% more to avoid “flexibility within limits†and 62% more to avoid “complete flexibility.†There is some evidence that employers are willing to pay more to avoid offering schedule flexibility within limits to workers who have more years of work experience. However, given the sample size restrictions, we fail to reject the null hypothesis that the results are the same for all experience profiles. |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrr:papers:wp453&r=dcm |
| By: | Natalia Fabra; Catarina Pintassilgo; Mateus Souza |
| Abstract: | Free-Floating Car-Sharing (FFCS) services allow users to rent electric vehicles by the minute without restrictions on pick-up or drop-off locations within the service area of the rental company. Beyond enlarging the choice set of mobility options, FFCS may reduce congestion and emissions in cities, depending on the service’s usage and substitution patterns. In this paper, we shed light on this by analyzing the universe of FFCS trips conducted through a leading company in Madrid during 2019. We correlate FFCS usage patterns with data on traffic conditions, demographics, and public transit availability across the city. We find complementarities between FFCS and public transport in middle-income areas with scarce public transport options. Moreover, we find that the use of FFCS peaks earlier than overall traffic and is broadly used during the summer months. This suggests that FFCS may have smoothed road traffic in Madrid, contributing to a reduction in overall congestion. |
| Keywords: | Car-sharing, shared mobility, road congestion, electric vehicles. |
| JEL: | R41 Q52 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2024_512&r=dcm |
| By: | Yuichi Kitamura; Louise Laage |
| Abstract: | In the standard stochastic block model for networks, the probability of a connection between two nodes, often referred to as the edge probability, depends on the unobserved communities each of these nodes belongs to. We consider a flexible framework in which each edge probability, together with the probability of community assignment, are also impacted by observed covariates. We propose a computationally tractable two-step procedure to estimate the conditional edge probabilities as well as the community assignment probabilities. The first step relies on a spectral clustering algorithm applied to a localized adjacency matrix of the network. In the second step, k-nearest neighbor regression estimates are computed on the extracted communities. We study the statistical properties of these estimators by providing non-asymptotic bounds. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.16322&r=dcm |
| By: | Dengler, Thomas; Gerke, Rafael; Giesen, Sebastian; Kienzler, Daniel; Röttger, Joost; Scheer, Alexander; Wacks, Johannes |
| Abstract: | Optimal policy projections (OPPs) offer a flexible way to derive scenario-based policy recommendations. This note describes how to calculate OPPs for a simple textbook New Keynesian model and provides illustrations for various examples. It also demonstrates the versatility of the approach by showing OPP results for simulations conducted using a medium-scale DSGE model and a New Keynesian model with heterogeneous households. |
| Keywords: | Optimal monetary policy, macroeconomic projections, New Keynesian models, household heterogeneity |
| JEL: | C63 E20 E31 E47 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubtps:285379&r=dcm |