nep-exp 2007-05-26 papers

on Experimental Economics

Issue of 2007‒05‒26
two papers chosen by
Daniel Houser
George Mason University

Interregional diversity of fairness concerns - An online ultimatum experiment By Sebastian J. Georg; Werner Güth; Gari Walkowitz; Torsten Weiland
Using Behavioral Economic Experiments at a Large Motor Carrier: The Context and Design of the Truckers and Turnover Project By Stephen V. Burks; Jeffrey Carpenter; Lorenz Götte; Kristen Monaco; Kay Porter; Aldo Rustichini

Interregional diversity of fairness concerns - An online ultimatum experiment

By:	Sebastian J. Georg (BonnEconLab, University of Bonn); Werner Güth (Max Planck Institute of Economics Jena, Strategic Interaction Unit); Gari Walkowitz (BonnEconLab, University of Bonn); Torsten Weiland (Max Planck Institute of Economics Jena, Strategic Interaction Unit)
Abstract:	Does geographic distance or the perceived social distance between subjects significantly affect proposer and responder behavior in ultimatum bargaining? To answer this question, subjects play a one-shot ultimatum game with three players (proposer, responder, and a passive dummy player) and asymmetric information (only the proposer knows what can be distributed). Treatments differ in their geographic scope by involving either one or three different locations in Germany. Observed behavior reflects the robust stylized facts of this class of ultimatum experiments and can be adequately explained by other-regarding preferences. While responder behavior does not condition on co-players' location of residence, self-interest of proposers varies significantly with the latter. Altogether, we do not detect strong discrimination based on geographic distance.
Keywords:	ultimatum bargaining, cross-cultural experiments, social preferences
JEL:	C78 C91 Z13
Date:	2007–05–16
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-016&r=exp

Using Behavioral Economic Experiments at a Large Motor Carrier: The Context and Design of the Truckers and Turnover Project

By:	Stephen V. Burks (University of Minnesota, Morris, and IZA); Jeffrey Carpenter (Middlebury College and IZA); Lorenz Götte (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and IZA); Kristen Monaco (California State University, Long Beach); Kay Porter (Cooperating Motor Carrier); Aldo Rustichini (University of Minnesota)
Abstract:	The Truckers and Turnover Project is a statistical case study of a single firm and its employees which matches proprietary personnel and operational data to new data collected by the researchers to create a two-year panel study of a large subset of new hires. The project’s most distinctive innovation is the data collection process which combines traditional survey instruments with behavioral economics experiments. The survey data include information on demographics, risk and loss aversion, time preference, planning, non-verbal IQ, and the MPQ personality profile. The data collected by behavioral economics experiments include risk and loss aversion, time preferences (discount rates), backward induction, patience, and the preference for cooperation in a social dilemma setting. Subjects will be followed over two years of their work lives. Among the major design goals are to discover the extent to which the survey and experimental measures are correlated, and whether and how much predictive power, with respect to key on-the-job outcome variables, is added by the behavioral measures. The panel study of new hires is being carried out against the backdrop of a second research component, the development of a more conventional indepth statistical case study of the cooperating firm and its employees. This is a high-turnover service industry setting, and the focus is on the use of survival analysis to model the flow of new employees into and out of employment, and on the correct estimation of the tenureproductivity curve for new hires, accounting for the selection effects of the high turnover.
Keywords:	field experiment, risk aversion, loss aversion, time preference, IQ, MPQ, numeracy, U.S. trucking industry, for-hire carriage, truckload (TL), driver turnover, employment duration, survival model, tenure-productivity curve
JEL:	C81 C93 L92 J63
Date:	2007–05
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2789&r=exp

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