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on Cognitive and Behavioural Economics |
| By: | James Cox; Maroš Servátka (University of Canterbury); Radovan Vadovič |
| Abstract: | Both the law and culture make a central distinction between acts of commission that overturn the status quo and acts of omission that uphold it. In everyday life acts of commission often elicit stronger reciprocal responses than do acts of omission. In this paper we compare reciprocal responses to both types of acts and ask whether behavior of subjects in three experiments is consistent with existing theory. The design of the experiments focuses on the axioms of revealed altruism theory (Cox, Friedman, and Sadiraj, 2008) that make it observationally distinct from other theories. We find support for this theory in all three experiments. |
| Keywords: | Experimental economics, reciprocity, revealed altruism, acts of commission, acts of omission, other-regarding preferences, status quo |
| JEL: | C70 C91 |
| Date: | 2013–08–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbt:econwp:13/25&r=cbe |
| By: | David A. Savage; Benno Torgler |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to determine if the introduction of a competing social institution has had a significant effect and shifted the pro-social behavior in the extreme (life-and-death) environment of mountaineering in the Himalayan Mountains over the last sixty years. We apply an analytic narratives approach to empirically investigate the link between death, success and the introduced social institution (commercialization). We use the Hawley and Salisbury (2007) Himalayan Database to determine if the introduction of this social institution is responsible for the decline in pro-social and altruistic behaviors. The results show that the change helping behavior is strongly correlated with the on mass introduction of commercialization. The results show a weakening of the prosocial behavior in the more "traditional climbers" in the modern period, created by a crowding out effect, which may have lead to the break down in prosocial behavior and the rise of anti-social behavior. Additionally, the results indicate that the prosocial behavior of the non-commercial groups in recent times may in fact be driven by the behavior of the Sherpa and not that of the climbers. |
| Keywords: | Decision under Pressure; Altruism; Tragic Events; Disasters; Survival; Natural Field Experiment; Mountaineering |
| JEL: | D63 D64 D71 D81 |
| Date: | 2013–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2013-10&r=cbe |
| By: | Julie Beugnot (Department of economics, Université Laval, CIRPÉE); Bernard Fortin (Department of economics, Université Laval, CIRPÉE and CIRANO); Guy Lacroix (Department of economics, Université Laval, CIRPÉE and CIRANO); Marie Claire Villeval (Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69007, France ; CNRS, GATE Lyon St Etienne,F-69130 Ecully, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the standard work effort model by allowing workers to interact through networks. We investigate experimentally whether peer performances and peer contextual effects influence individual performances. Two types of network are considered. Participants in Recursive networks are paired with participants who played previously in isolation. In Simultaneous networks, participants interact in real-time along an undirected line. Mean peer effects are identified in both cases. Individual performances increase with peer performances in the recursive network. In the simultaneous network, endogenous peer effects vary according to gender : they are large for men but not statistically different from zero for women. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, social networks, work effort, piece rate, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 J16 J24 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1323&r=cbe |
| By: | Lisa Barrow; Cecilia Elena Rouse |
| Abstract: | Using survey data from a field experiment in the U.S., we test whether and how financial incentives change student behavior. We find that providing post-secondary scholarships with incentives to meet performance, enrollment, and/or attendance benchmarks induced students to devote more time to educational activities and to increase the quality of effort toward, and engagement with, their studies; students also allocated less time to other activities such as work and leisure. While the incentives did not generate impacts after eligibility had ended, they also did not decrease students’ inherent interest or enjoyment in learning. Finally, we present evidence suggesting that students were motivated more by the incentives provided than simply the effect of giving additional money, and that students who were arguably less time-constrained were more responsive to the incentives as were those who were plausibly more myopic. Overall these results indicate that well-designed incentives can induce post-secondary students to increase investments in educational attainment. |
| Keywords: | Education, Higher - Economic aspects |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2013-07&r=cbe |
| By: | Bruno S. Frey; Fabian Homberg; Margit Osterloh |
| Abstract: | Under certain conditions, output related performance measurement and pay-for-performance produce negative outcomes. We argue that in public service, these negative effects are stronger than in the private sector. We combine Behavioural Economics and Management Control Theory to determine under which conditions this is the case. We suggest as alternatives to the dominant output related pay-for-performance systems selection and socialization, exploratory use of output performance measures, and awards. |
| Keywords: | organization control; organizational forms; public administration; organizations; public service motivation |
| Date: | 2013–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2013-11&r=cbe |
| By: | Nathan Berg (Department of Economics, University of Otago, New Zealand); G. Biele; Gerd Gigerenzer |
| Abstract: | When economists' subjective beliefs about the sensitivity and positive predictive value of the Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test are internally consistent (i.e., satisfying Bayes' Rule), their beliefs about prostate cancer risk are less accurate than among those with inconsistent beliefs. Using a loss function framework, we investigate but cannot find evidence that inconsistent beliefs lead to inaccuracy, different PSA decisions, or economic losses. Economists' PSA decisions appear to depend much more on the advice of doctors and family members than on beliefs about cancer risks and the pros/cons of PSA testing, which have little to no joint explanatory power. |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:otg:wpaper:1308&r=cbe |
| By: | Pierre Gosselin (IF - Institut Fourier - CNRS : UMR5582 - Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble I); Aïleen Lotz (Cerca Trova - Aucune); Marc Wambst (IRMA - Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée - CNRS : UMR7501 - Université de Strasbourg) |
| Abstract: | We develop a general method to solve models of interactions between multiple and possibly strategic agents. Our model explains apparently irrational or biased behaviors in a person. We argue that these actions could result from several rational structures having different goals. Our main example is a model of three agents, "conscious", "unconscious", and "body". Our main result states that, for an agent whose unconscious and conscious goals differ, the unconscious may influence the conscious, either directly or indirectly, via a third agent, the body. This three-agent model describes behaviors such as craving, exces- sive smoking, or sleepiness, to delay or dismiss a task. One of the main result shows that the unconscious' strategic action crucially depends on whether the conscious' actions are complementary in time. When complementary, and if the conscious is not sensitive to un- conscious' messages, the unconscious may drive the conscious towards its goals by blurring physical needs. When not complementary, the unconscious may more easily reach his goal by influencing the conscious, be it directly or indirectly. |
| Keywords: | dual agent; conscious and unconscious; rationality; multi-rationality; consis- tency; choices and preferences; multi-agent model |
| Date: | 2013–08–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00851309&r=cbe |
| By: | Mondschein, Andrew Samuel |
| Abstract: | Transportation planning research addresses accessibility from diverse approaches, focusing varyingly on the usability of the transportation system as a whole, a particular mode, the pattern of land uses, or the wherewithal of individuals and communities to make use of those systems. One aspect of accessibility that has received relatively little attention from planners is its cognitive, experiential aspect. Individuals’ activity and travel choices require not just money and time but also information about opportunities in the city. This component of an individual’s accessibility is highly personal but also dependent on the terrain of land uses and transportation options shaped by planners and policymakers. I seek to extend current accessibility research, addressing shortcomings in how the literature deals with individual experience of the city and knowledge. Through a series of empirical analyses of activity patterns and cognitive maps of theLos Angeles region, I explore the factors that shape individual accessibility. The first analysis investigates the spatial nature of personal cities, using the activity spaces of respondents to explore the types of opportunities that different populations within a city can access. The second demonstrates the differences – depending on mode of travel – among individuals’ perceptions of the city, even when location is held constant. The third analysis continues an exploration of the personal city by considering its fundamental components. Overall, the analyses support the relevance of the personal city framework to accessibility research, highlighting in particular that planning interventions are filtered through experiential and cognitive processes. The findings highlight that the accessibility impacts of transportation and land use patterns are felt not just in the instantaneous calculations of a microeconomic choice framework, but also in the long-term, developmental processes of cognition and experience. For urban planners, the implications of this research include evidence of how the built environment can effectively reduce travel while maintaining accessibility and how different transportation modes afford varying levels of functional accessibility. Overall, I find that experience, information, and learning are elements of urban daily life traditionally neglected by planners but with potential to increase opportunity and accessibility for diverse urban populations. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, urban planning, travel choice, accessibility |
| Date: | 2013–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:uctcwp:qt7014d9cg&r=cbe |
| By: | Julie Beugnot; Bernard Fortin; Guy Lacroix; Marie Claire Villeval |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the standard work effort model by allowing workers to interact through networks. We investigate experimentally whether peer performances and peer contextual effects influence individual performances. Two types of network are considered. Participants in Recursive networks are paired with participants who played previously in isolation. In Simultaneous networks, participants interact in real-time along an undirected line. Mean peer effects are identified in both cases. Individual performances increase with peer performances in the recursive network. In the simultaneous network, endogenous peer effects vary according to gender: they are large for men but not statistically different from zero for women. |
| Keywords: | Peer effects, social networks, Work effort, piece rate, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 J16 J24 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:lacicr:1320&r=cbe |