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on Experimental Economics |
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Issue of 2023‒07‒24
39 papers chosen by |
| By: | Jonathan H.W. Tan (Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University.); Zhao Zichen (Department of Economics, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University.); Daniel John Zizzo (School of Economics, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) |
| Abstract: | RField experiments can help improve scientific inference by providing access to diverse samples that are representative in terms of demographic backgrounds, and by availing the use of assets that relate directly to the economic problem of interest. We present a study comparing claims based on laboratory and field experiments in 520 publications in 2018 and 2019 at leading general and field journals in economics. Each paper is surveyed for their key claims and matches along the dimensions of profession, age, and gender of experimental subjects; country of experiment; and experimental asset in relation to which a claim is made. We find that, particularly in the realm of policy testing, field experiments are more likely to match the key claims than laboratory experiments. However, depending on the dimension, less than 20% or only up to around 65% of field experiments including natural field experiments achieve a match. Around four out of five field experiments fail to match in at least three out of the five dimensions. We conclude that the methodological challenge of generalizing results beyond what is within the domain of the experiments themselves also applies to many papers based on field experiments, given the claims being made. In addition, we find that publications by top 20 institutions authors or with experiments conducted in Caucasian-majority countries have a substantially higher likelihood of wide generalizations. |
| Keywords: | C18, C90 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uq2004:663&r=exp |
| By: | Pourtaherian, Bahman; Li, Tongzhe |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335661&r=exp |
| By: | Uchida, Emi; Hasan, Md Tahsin |
| Keywords: | Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335613&r=exp |
| By: | Bogliacino, Francesco (Universidad Nacional de Colombia); Leonardo, Pejsachowicz; Liva, Giovanni; Lupiáñez-Villanueva, Francisco |
| Abstract: | Several countries and supranational authorities are debating whether to regulate or ban dark patterns, deceptive users’ interfaces. A key empirical component to this debate is how to assess manipulation. In this study, we develop a transaction test which measure to what extent the dark patterns lead to decisions inconsistent with elicited preferences. We conducted a large preregistered online study (N=7430) with a representative population of six countries to identify both the effect of dark patterns on consumers’ choice consistency and the potential counteracting effects of protective measures. Our treatments include three dark patterns - hiding information on the product, toying-with-emotions, and the use of psychological profiling to personalize the display for the consumer – and two versions of a protective measure that discloses information and requires subject to confirm the selection. Participants are assigned to either a motivated delay or incentive compatible time pressure environment, allowing to identify the impact of treatments on consumers paying enough attention and on situationally vulnerable consumer. Dark patterns do manipulate consumers, showing remarkable effects on both average and vulnerable consumers. The cool down intervention has a null effect. We stress test the transaction test in a controlled experiment, where the preference elicitation is incentive compatible, we collect repeated measurement of choices among lotteries and we manipulate the extent of the mistake. In this additional experiment, the TWE treatment resulted in greater inconsistency compared to the control group, particularly in lotteries where the point of indifference was less likely to be located at the boundaries of the MPL grid. While subjects learned to be consistent through multiple rounds of choice and with decision problems further from their area of indifference, the learning effect is less pronounced under the TWE treatment. |
| Date: | 2023–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:sqt3j&r=exp |
| By: | Timko, Christina; Adena, Maja |
| Abstract: | Smartphone app designers often use behavioral design to influence users, increase sales, and boost advertising revenue. Behavioral design relies on elements ranging from app appearance to black-box algorithms and personalization. It commonly exploits behavioral biases, such as the lack of self-control. Consumers are seldom aware of such design and usually have no control over it. Aiming to protect consumers, the recently enacted European Digital Services Act requires app design to be more transparent and adjustable. In a framed field experiment, we document that behavioral design increases app usage time, especially in the case of vulnerable users. An app version that adds transparency and offers protection features helps to overcome temptation. The higher willingness to pay for the transparent version shows that the positive effects of app transparency and increased consumer protection might not only materialize on the demand side but may also challenge current practices on the supply side. |
| Keywords: | smartphone app, filtering algorithm, transparency, consumer protection, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 O33 D83 L86 M38 D18 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2023302&r=exp |
| By: | Jakob Alfitian (University of Cologne, Faculty of Management, Economics, and Social Sciences. Albertus Magnus Platz, D-50923 Köln, Germany); Marvin Deversi (Education Y); Dirk Sliwka (University of Cologne, CESifo and IZA, Faculty of Management, Economics, and Social Sciences, Albertus Magnus Platz, D-50923 Köln, Germany) |
| Abstract: | We present a natural field experiment on promoting pay equity through simple modifications to the salary review process involving 623 middle managers and 8, 951 subordinate employees of a large technology firm.We first document a gender gap not only in salary levels but also in salary increases. Our treatments provide for a gender-neutral reallocation of the salary increase budget available to middle managers aimed at promoting pay equity, along with different variants of a corresponding decision guidance. We show that the budget reallocation combined with an explicit decision guidance, while still leaving managers discretion in allocating the budget, can completely eliminate the gender gap in salary increases. The treatments also do not appear to undermine desired performance differentiation in salary increases. We thus show that simple modifications to the salary review process can go a long way toward achieving pay equity, preventing the widening of gender gaps throughout the career. |
| Keywords: | Randomized Controlled Trial, Pay equity, Gender pay gap, Salary structure |
| JEL: | J31 J71 M52 |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkdps:244&r=exp |
| By: | Pitts, Stephen M.; Boyd, Chris M.; Storer, Grant X. |
| Keywords: | Risk and Uncertainty, International Development, Marketing |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335981&r=exp |
| By: | Dräger, Lena; Nghiem, Giang |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the causal effect of inflation literacy on inflation expectations and trust in the central bank using a randomized control trial (RCT) on a representative sample of the German population. In an experiment with two steps, we first test the effect of non-numerical information about inflation and monetary policy, the \textitliteracy treatment. In the second step, we randomly treat respondents with quantitative information and measure whether those who previously received the \textitliteracy treatment, incorporate quantitative information differently into their inflation forecasts. We find that the \textitliteracy treatment improves respondents' knowledge about monetary policy and inflation and raises their trust in the central bank. It also causes a higher likelihood that respondents provide inflation predictions, but does not affect the level of expected inflation. Similarly, those who received the initial \textitliteracy treatment do not react differently to the quantitative information in terms of the level of their inflation forecasts, but they react more strongly to some treatments regarding their reported forecast uncertainty and trust in the central bank. |
| Keywords: | Inflation literacy; inflation expectations; trust in the central bank; survey experiment; randomized control trial (RCT) |
| JEL: | E52 E31 D84 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:han:dpaper:dp-709&r=exp |
| By: | Vladimír Novák (National Bank of Slovakia); Andrei Matveenko (University of Mannheim); Silvio Ravaioli (Cornerstone Research) |
| Abstract: | We show that rational but inattentive agents can become polarized ex-ante. We present how optimal information acquisition, and subsequent belief formation, depend crucially on the agent-specific status quo valuation. Beliefs can systematically - in expectations over all possible signal realizations conditional on the state of the world - update away from the realized truth and even agents with the same initial beliefs might become polarized. We design a laboratory experiment to test the model’s predictions. The results confirm our predictions about the mechanism (rational information acquisition), its effect on beliefs (systematic polarization) and provide general insights into demand for information. |
| JEL: | C92 D72 D83 D84 D91 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:svk:wpaper:1097&r=exp |
| By: | Pracht, Wyatt; Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Development, Research Methods/Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335612&r=exp |
| By: | Mikula, Stepan (Masaryk University); Montag, Josef (Charles University, Prague) |
| Abstract: | This paper tests for discriminatory treatment of the Roma minority by public officials in the Czech Republic at the stage of initial contact preceding a potential application for unemployment benefit. Our correspondence experiment facilitates testing for the presence of each of two intertwined drivers of discrimination: ethnic animus and socioeconomic status prejudice. We find substantial evidence for the presence of discrimination based on both of these sources. Since Roma tend to have lower socioeconomic status, the two sources of discrimination compound for them. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, Roma, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, public services, social security, field experiment |
| JEL: | J15 D73 H55 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16218&r=exp |
| By: | Deer, Lachlan; Ellingsrud, Sigmund; Kordt, Amund H.; Heuer, Felix |
| Abstract: | Dertwinkel-Kalt et al. (2022) examine the effect of concentration bias - the tendency to overweight advantages that are concentrated in time relative to costs that are spread over multiple time periods - on intertemporal choice in a laboratory experiment. In their preferred empirical specification, the authors report that concentration bias leads to a 22.4% higher willingness to work than explained by a standard model of intertemporal discounting. We conduct a computational replication of the main results of the paper using the same procedures and original data. Our results confirm the sign, magnitude and statistical significance of the author’s reported estimates across each of their five main findings. |
| Keywords: | concentration bias, intertemporal choice, laboratory experiment, computational replication |
| JEL: | D01 D9 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:42&r=exp |
| By: | Felix Kölle (Univeristy of Cologne); Simone Quercia (University of Verona); Egon Tripodi (Hertie School) |
| Abstract: | Social interactions predominantly take place under the shadow of the future. Previous literature explains cooperation in indefinitely repeated prisoner’s dilemma as predominantly driven by self-interested strategic considerations. This paper provides a causal test of the importance of social preferences for cooperation, varying the composition of interactions to be either homogeneous or heterogeneous in terms of these preferences. Through a series of pre-registered experiments (N = 1, 074), we show that groups of prosocial individuals achieve substantially higher levels of cooperation. The cooperation gap between prosocial and selfish groups persists even when the shadow of the future is increased to make cooperation attractive for the selfish and when common knowledge about group composition is removed. |
| Keywords: | cooperation; indefinitely repeated games; prisoner’s dilemma; social preferences; experiment; |
| JEL: | C73 C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2023–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:406&r=exp |
| By: | Zhan, Jintao; Chen, Qiqi |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Marketing |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:336012&r=exp |
| By: | Rafiq Friperson (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam); Hessel Oosterbeek (University of Amsterdam); Bas van der Klaauw (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | Sellers in real-estate markets, on internet platforms, in auction houses, and so forth, routinely pose non-binding price requests. Using a laboratory experiment, we examine how competition moderates the way such cheap-talk communication affects trade between buyers and sellers. For bilateral trade, the literature has identified efficiency, anchoring, and granularity effects of cheap-talk communication on negotiation outcomes. Our results show that most of these effects survive with competition, although some of them become weaker. Our main findings are the following: (i) The ability of sellers to make non-binding price requests has a positive effect on efficiency in that it helps trading partners close marginal deals both in bilateral bargaining and in competition; (ii) Competition reduces the informativeness of the price requests and weakens the anchoring effect of the level of the price request; (iii) Sellers communicating more granular price requests attract more granular buyer bids; (iv) The granularity of the seller’s price request does not impact the selling price. |
| Keywords: | Cheap-talk communication, efficiency, anchoring, price granulatiry, laboratory experiment |
| JEL: | C72 C92 D91 |
| Date: | 2023–06–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20230035&r=exp |
| By: | Deivis Angeli; Matt Lowe; The Village Team; Matthew Lowe |
| Abstract: | We study whether tweets about racial justice predict the offline behaviors of nearly 20, 000 US academics. In an audit study, academics that tweet about racial justice discriminate more in favor of minority students than academics that do not tweet about racial justice. Racial justice tweets are more predictive of race-related political tweets than political contributions, suggesting that visibility increases informativeness. In contrast, the informativeness of tweets is lower during periods of high social pressure to tweet about racial justice. Finally, most graduate students mispredict informativeness, more often underestimating than overestimating, reducing the welfare benefits of social media. |
| Keywords: | virtue signals, social signalling , discrimination, audit experiment, political behavior |
| JEL: | C93 D91 I23 J15 J71 D83 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10475&r=exp |
| By: | Suresh Naidu; Yaw Nyarko; Shing-Yi Wang |
| Abstract: | We estimate the individual returns to temporary migration programs using a randomized experiment with several thousand job seekers in India applying to guest worker jobs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Working with construction companies and the UAE Ministry of Labor, we randomized job offers to potential migrant workers at recruitment sites. We measured effects on labor market outcomes, well-being, social relationships, and work satisfaction, as well as on labor intermediation costs, assets and debt. We find that workers who received the randomized offer experienced 30% higher earnings, and those who take up the offer to migrate to the UAE doubled their compensation. However, they also paid substantial upfront costs to labor intermediaries, financed by additional debt, that reduced take-home pay by about 10%. Migrants also reported a significant fall in subjective well-being, driven by increases in physical pain, effort, and heat. There were no significant effects on loneliness or other dimensions of well-being. Our finding of negative effects on well-being is consistent with the large share of workers offered jobs who did not migrate to the UAE. Extrapolating using a linear marginal treatment effects framework to workers who decline the UAE job offer, we find large and positive pecuniary returns to migration, even including intermediary fees, but even larger non-pecuniary costs. |
| JEL: | J6 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:31354&r=exp |
| By: | Sebastian Oetzel (University of Applied Sciences Fulda); Mareike Sachse (HU Berlin); Daniel Klapper (HU Berlin) |
| Abstract: | The effect of variety on consumer choice has been studied extensively, with some stream of literature showing the positive effects on choice and others arguing that too many alternatives may result in negative consequences (i.e., choice deferral or no purchase at all), often referred to as choice overload. In a field experiment with a major chocolate brand conducted at a German retail chain, we test for variety during a price and display promotion. Participating stores either include the full variety of products on the display or a reduced selection (low variety). Contrary to the literature on choice overload, we find a significantly positive effect of the display promotion on unit sales, which is stronger for stores with high variety. Further findings show a stronger promotion uplift for less popular products in stores with high variety on the display. This suggests that more variety may increase consumers’ willingness to try new products, when the financial risk is low. We also test for the effect of product distribution on displays by analysing the number of facings. Additionally, we introduce an approach to determine an optimal space allocation of products on the display. Our findings suggest that an even distribution results in the highest profits for the retailer. We contribute to the literature on variety for consumer choices by offering insights from actual purchases with store-level scanner data of display promotions. |
| Keywords: | variety; retailing; in-store display; field experiment; |
| JEL: | M31 C23 C93 D12 |
| Date: | 2023–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:404&r=exp |
| By: | Tito Boeri; Matteo Gamalerio; Massimo Morelli; Margherita Negri |
| Abstract: | We study whether a better knowledge of the functioning of pay-as-you-go pension systems and recent demographic trends in the hosting country affects natives’ attitudes towards immigration. In two online experiments in Italy and Spain, we randomly treated participants with a video explaining how, in pay-as you-go pension systems, the payment of current pensions depends on the contributions paid by current workers. The video also explains that the ratio between the number of pensioners and the number of workers in their countries will grow substantially in the future. We find that the treatment improves participants’ knowledge about how a pay-as-you-go system works and the future demographic trends in their country. However, we find that only treated participants who do not support populist and anti-immigrant parties display more positive attitudes towards migrants, even though the treatment increases knowledge of pension systems and demographic trends for all participants. |
| Keywords: | Information provision, experiment, immigration, pay-as-you-go pension systems, population ageing, populism |
| JEL: | C90 D83 H55 J15 F22 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp23197&r=exp |
| By: | Collison, Kealey N.; Grogan, Kelly A. |
| Keywords: | Resource/Energy Economics and Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Research Methods/Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335805&r=exp |
| By: | Arthur E. Attema (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Olivier L'Haridon (IUF - Institut Universitaire de France - M.E.N.E.S.R. - Ministère de l'Education nationale, de l’Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche, CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Gijs van de Kuilen (Tilburg University [Netherlands]) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we use the risk apportionment technique of Eeckhoudt, Rey and Schlesinger (2007) to study higher order risk preferences for others' health as well as ex-ante and ex-post inequality preferences for social risky distributions, and their interaction. In an experiment on a sample of university students acting as impartial spectators, we observe risk aversion towards social health losses and a dislike of ex-ante inequality. In addition, evidence for ex-post inequality seeking is much weaker than evidence for ex-ante inequality aversion. Because ex-ante inequality aversion is unrelated to risk aversion, we conclude that simple forms of utilitarianism are not relevant for individual judgment of social risk over health. Last, our investigation of precautionary distribution, which would occur when one particular group in the society suffers from background health risk, shows substantial polarization of preferences. |
| Keywords: | Social risk, Ex-ante social welfare, Ex-post social welfare, Risk apportionment |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04116959&r=exp |
| By: | Peter Andre |
| Abstract: | Meritocracies aspire to reward hard work but promise not to judge individuals by the circumstances into which they were born. However, circumstances often shape the choice to work hard. I show that people’s merit judgments are insensitive to this effect. They hold others responsible for their choices, even if these choices have been shaped by unequal circumstances. In an experiment, US participants judge how much money workers deserve for the effort they exert. Unequal circumstances disadvantage some workers and discourage them from working hard. Nonetheless, participants reward the effort of disadvantaged and advantaged workers identically, regardless of the circumstances under which choices are made. For some participants, this reflects their fundamental view on fair rewards. For others, the neglect results from the uncertain counterfactual. They understand that unequal circumstances shape choices but do not correct for this because the exact counterfactual—what would have happened under equal circumstances—remains uncertain. |
| Keywords: | Meritocracy, fairness, responsibility, attitudes toward inequality, redistribution, social preferences, inference, uncertainty, counterfactual thinking |
| JEL: | C91 D63 D91 H23 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2022_318v3&r=exp |
| By: | Allister Loder; Fabienne Cantner; Lennart Adenaw; Nico Nachtigall; David Ziegler; Felix Gotzler; Markus B. Siewert; Stefan Wurster; Sebastian Goerg; Markus Lienkamp; Klaus Bogenberger |
| Abstract: | In spring 2022, the German federal government agreed on a set of policy measures that aimed at reducing households' financial burden resulting from a recent price increase, especially in energy and mobility. These included among others, a nationwide public transport ticket for 9~Euro per month for three months in June, July, and August 2022. In transport policy research this is an almost unprecedented behavioral experiment. It allows us to study not only behavioral responses in mode choice and induced demand but also to assess the effectiveness of these instruments. We observe this natural experiment with a three-wave survey and a smartphone-based travel diary with passive tracking on an initial sample of 2, 261 participants with a focus on the Munich metropolitan region. This area is chosen as it offers a variety of mode options with a dense and far-reaching public transport network that even provides good access to many leisure destinations. The app has been providing data from 756 participants until the end of September, the three-wave survey by 1, 402, and the app and the three waves by 637 participants. In this paper, we report on the study design, the recruitment and study participation as well as the impacts of the policy measures on the self-reported and app-observed travel behavior; we present results on consumer choices for a successor ticket to the 9-Euro-Ticket that started in May 2023. We find a substantial shift in the modal share towards public transport from the car in our sample during the 9-Euro-Ticket period in travel distance (around 5 %) and in trip frequency (around 7 %). The mobility outcomes of the 9-Euro-Ticket however provide evidence that cheap public transport as a policy instrument does not suffice to incentive sustainable travel behavior choices and that other policy instruments are required in addition. |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2306.08297&r=exp |
| By: | Moinas, Sophie; Declerck, Fany; Menkveld, Albert J.; Dreber, Anna |
| Abstract: | In statistics, samples are drawn from a population in a data-generating process (DGP). Standard errors measure the uncertainty in estimates of population parameters. In science, evidence is gener-ated to test hypotheses in an evidence-generating process (EGP). We claim that EGP variation across researchers adds uncertainty: Non-standard errors (NSEs). We study NSEs by letting 164 teams test the same hypotheses on the same data. NSEs turn out to be sizable, but smaller for better reproducible or higher rated research. Adding peer-review stages reduces NSEs. We further find that this type of uncertainty is underestimated by participants. |
| Date: | 2023–06–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:128178&r=exp |
| By: | Arthur E. Attema (Erasmus University Rotterdam); Olivier L'Haridon (CREM - Centre de recherche en économie et management - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UR - Université de Rennes - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UGENT - Universiteit Gent = Ghent University); Gijs van de Kuilen (Tilburg University [Netherlands]) |
| Abstract: | This study reports the results of the first artefactual field experiment designed to measure the prevalence of aversion toward different components of social risks in a large and demographically representative sample. We identify social risk preferences for health and wealth for losses and gains, and decompose these attitudes into four different dimensions: individual risk, collective risk, ex-post inequality, and ex-ante inequality. The results of a non-parametric analysis suggest that aversion to risk and inequality is the mean preference for outcomes in health and wealth in the domain of gains and losses. A parametric decomposition of aversion to risk and inequality shows that respondents are averse to ex-post and ex-ante inequality in health and wealth for gains and losses. Likewise, respondents are averse to collective risk, but neutral to individual risk, which highlights the importance of considering different components of social risk preferences when managing social health and wealth risks. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Risk aversion, Social risk |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04116983&r=exp |
| By: | Laia Balcells (Georgetown Universit); Lesley-Ann Daniels (Institute Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI)); Daniel Alexander Kuo (University of Oxford (DPIR and Christ Church)) |
| Abstract: | Territorial debates complicate the politics of the affected regions, as parties must decide whether to compete on a territorial dimension alongside others, such as redistribution, that have longstanding importance. Yet, empirical evidence is scarce regarding how much voters actually weigh territorial issues against others, and on which issues voters most reward congruent (like-minded) candidates. We theorize that in contexts when such issues are salient, they have a greater weight relative to others due to their identity-oriented nature. We present evidence from a conjoint experiment embedded in simultaneously fielded surveys in three European regions with active territorial disputes: Catalonia, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. We find that individuals’ preferences on the territorial issue matter more than other issues for candidate choice: the reward (punishment) of congruent (incongruent) candidates is greater, and individuals are less prepared to concede on this issue. Our results have broader comparative implications for political competition in multidimensional spaces where territorial disputes are present. |
| Keywords: | secessionism, voting behavior, conjoint experiment, territorial disputes, substate nationalism, United Kingdom, Spain |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hic:wpaper:394&r=exp |
| By: | Bhattacharya, Nilanjan; Pakrashi, Debayan; Saha, Sarani; Wang, Liang C. |
| Abstract: | In regions affected by conflicts, partition, and violence, how does past exposure to such incidences affect attitudes towards members of different social groups? Drawing on the theory of inequity aversion model, we infer that past exposure to conflict and violence can increase an individual's ability to empathize with the ingroup(s) and discriminate against the outgroup(s). We test this hypothesis by conducting a money-giving dictator game and a money-taking dictator game among 794 Hindu Bengali individuals from an Indian-native-born background and an East-Pakistan-refugee background residing in the state of West Bengal in India. Our objective is to study the dominant social identity and identity assimilation of individuals with multiple social affiliations. We find that participants from both native and refugee backgrounds show favoritism towards other Hindus in India by giving them money taken away from Muslims in India, Hindus in Bangladesh, and Muslims in Bangladesh. The favoritism towards other Hindus in India indicates that they are treated as the social ingroup, while the discrimination against the other groups indicates that they are treated as the social outgroups. Participants from refugee families discriminate against Muslims in India more than Hindus in Bangladesh, while participants from native families discriminate against Hindus in Bangladesh more than Muslims in India. The differential treatments across social groups suggest that the Hindu religious affiliation plays a more dominant role than the Indian nationality affiliation in the identity of refugees. Further, we find suggestive evidence of identity assimilation among individuals with a refugee background. |
| Keywords: | social identity, partition refugees, charitable giving |
| JEL: | F22 J15 Z12 N3 |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1297&r=exp |
| By: | Cook, Joseph; Deol, Suhina |
| Keywords: | Institutional and Behavioral Economics, Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Environmental Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335959&r=exp |
| By: | Park, Sihyun; Vecchi, Martina |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Health Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335662&r=exp |
| By: | Federico M. Ferrara; Donato Masciandaro; Manuela Moschella; Davide Romelli |
| Abstract: | Technocracy has come to be increasingly regarded as a threat to representative democracy. Significant attention has thus been recently devoted to exploring public preferences towards technocratic institutions. Elected policymakers’ attitudes have instead not been investigated as systematically. This paper fills this gap by examining politicians’ views on central banks. Based on an original elite survey of the Members of the European Parliament, we gauge elected policymakers’ attitudes towards the mandate and policy conduct of the European Central Bank. Our findings show that the political orientation of politicians largely drives attitudes towards the ECB’s institutional mandate. Interestingly, the findings from two experiments embedded in the survey also show that the attitudes of MEPs are not as static as ideological orientations would lead us to expect. The information set to which politicians are exposed significantly shapes their views on both the ECB’s mandate and its policy conduct, but less on ECB independence |
| Keywords: | accountability, central banks, ECB, independence, political attitudes, technocracy, trust |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:baf:cbafwp:cbafwp23201&r=exp |
| By: | Armin Falk (University of Bonn, briq Institute); Mark Fallak (Institute of Labor Economics); Lasse Stötzer (briq Institute) |
| Abstract: | Of the 2, 002 respondents, 71 percent stated that they take personal action against climate change. The re-spondents‘ perceptions about peoples‘ behavior differed: The share of the German population committed to climate protection was estimated at an average of 59 percent. The actual willingness to act against climate change is therefore significantly underestimated (by nearly 70 percent of respondents). When asked if people in Germany should take action against climate change, 85 percent of respondents agreed. However, four out of five respondents underestimate the percentage of people who share their view – the average estimate was 67 percent. The phenomenon that both the willingness of others to act against climate change and the prevailing social norms are systematically underestimated is a form of pluralistic ignorance. The problematic conse-quences of such a misperception can be seen in its negative influence on donations to a climate protection organization in our survey. Many people are conditionally cooperative, i.e., they make their own behavior dependent on the behavior of others. Correcting the misperceptions of others’ cooperation could therefore improve individual willingness to act against climate change. This idea has been tested by briq researchers in a survey experiment in the United States. Correcting the ex-isting misperceptions causally raised the individual willingness to act against climate change and the support for climate policies. The strongest effects are found among individuals who are skeptical about the existence and threat of global warming. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ajk:ajkpbs:036_en&r=exp |
| By: | Matsuda, Norihiko (Florida International University); Hayashi, Ryotaro (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | Online job fairs are a new labor market intervention. This paper provides the first experimental evidence on their impact by evaluating an online fair for information and communication technology jobs in Bangladesh. The fair generated a non-negligible number of job offers; however, over 90% of them were rejected, so no effect on employment probability or type was found. Interestingly, jobseekers lowered their reservation wages, kept their jobs longer, and ended up in worse skill-matched jobs. The reason is that jobseekers initially had overoptimistic expectations, but learned about market conditions at the fair, lowered their expectations, and became discouraged from job search. As a result, those who had already been employed kept their jobs longer, even if the jobs did not match their skills, and those who had initially been unemployed ended up with lower employment probabilities and lower skill-match quality. |
| Keywords: | job fair; job matching; online search; youth employment; Bangladesh |
| JEL: | J24 J64 O12 O15 |
| Date: | 2023–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0689&r=exp |
| By: | Bachler, Sebastian; Erhart, Andrea; Holzknecht, Armando |
| Abstract: | In the paper of, Altmann et al. (2022) the authors investigate whether positive effects which are due to behavioral policy interventions in policytargeted domains come along with negative effects in policy non-targeted domains. Using lab and online experiments where subjects have to solve one policy-focused decision task and one non-focused background task, the authors show that increasing incentives or steering attention to the former led to higher attention spans, lower default adherence rates, and a higher choice quality in the decision task. However, because of steering participants focus to the decision task, lower choice quality and lower attention spans in the background task emerged as a consequence, which was particularly pronounced among individuals with lower cognitive capabilities and complex decision tasks. Essentially, the authors also describe that the negative effects in the background tasks offset the positive effects in the decision task, ultimately yielding a net-zero effect overall. Therefore, the authors emphasize policymakers to also consider the potential negative cognitive spillovers in order to not overestimate the benefits of behavioral policy interventions. All the results the authors in the main text report are significant on 5% and 1% significance levels. All findings presented in the main text of the paper can be replicated using the original Stata code and verified thoroughly using R. Additionally, we performed two robustness tests to ensure the reliability of the paper’s main results, and they remained consistent. Hence, the reported findings in the paper appear to be robust. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:43&r=exp |
| By: | Deng, Shuyue; Adalja, Aaron A.; Liaukonyte, Jura |
| Keywords: | Agricultural and Food Policy, Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Marketing |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335499&r=exp |
| By: | Rosina Rodríguez Olivera |
| Abstract: | I consider a model in which a monopolist data-seller owners information to privately informed data-buyers who play a game of incomplete information. I characterize the data-seller's optimal menu, which screens between two types of data-buyers. Data-buyers' preferences for information cannot generally be ordered across types. I show that the nature of data-buyers' preferences for information allows the data-seller to extract all surplus. In particular, the data-seller owners a perfectly informative experiment to the data-buyer with highest willingness to pay and a partially informative experiment, which makes the data-buyer with the highest willingness to pay for perfect information indifferent between both experiments. I also show that the features of the optimal menu are determined by the interaction between data-buyers' strategic incentives and the correlation of their private information. Namely, the data-seller owners two informative experiments even when data-buyers would choose the same action without supplemental information if data-buyers: i) have coordination incentives and their private information is negatively correlated or ii) have anti-coordination incentives and their private information is positively correlated. |
| Keywords: | Screening, Information, Strategic incentives |
| JEL: | D80 D82 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2023_437&r=exp |
| By: | Templeton, Scott R.; Wood, Daniel H. |
| Keywords: | Resource/Energy Economics and Policy, Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea22:335886&r=exp |
| By: | Buser, Thomas (University of Amsterdam); Oosterbeek, Hessel (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | A large empirical literature in behavioral economics investigates heterogeneity across individuals and groups in preferences for competition. In this study, we provide a more detailed view on competitiveness by differentiating between four different motivations for entering competitions – enjoyment of competition, desire to win, competition for personal development, and general challenge seeking. We investigate which of these dimensions are picked up by traditional measures of competitiveness; how they predict individual and gender differences in career outcomes including income, holding a leadership position, and entrepreneurship; how they predict wellbeing; and how they relate to other personality traits, skills, and preferences. |
| Keywords: | competitiveness, personality traits, labor market outcomes, leadership, gender |
| JEL: | C92 D91 J24 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16224&r=exp |
| By: | Abel, Martin (Bowdoin College); Burger, Rulof (Stellenbosch University) |
| Abstract: | We investigate the extent and underlying mechanisms of how race beliefs associated with applicants' names affect hiring decisions. Using nationally representative data, we find widespread beliefs that people with names perceived to be Black possess lower levels of education, productivity and noncognitive skills. Notably, this race penalty persists when considering only variation in race perception for the same name and when omitting distinctly Black names. Conducting an incentivized hiring experiment with real worker data, we find that participants are 30 percentage points (pp) more likely to hire workers perceived to be white compared to Black. Controlling for productivity and noncognitive skills beliefs reduces this racial gap to 21 pp and 20 pp, respectively. Results indicate that race serves as a decision heuristic as employers make faster decisions and display more certainty when perceived race differences between candidates are large. Moreover, the race gap in hiring increases by 25% when employers are forced to make quick decisions. Estimates from a structural drift-diffusion model quantify the effect of beliefs and show that employers differ both in their usage of racial heuristics and inclination to override these heuristics when given sufficient decision time. |
| Keywords: | race discrimination, hiring discrimination, name associations |
| JEL: | J50 J70 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16254&r=exp |
| By: | Wieser, Luisa (FAU, Erlangen Nuremberg); Abraham, Martin (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Schnabel, Claus (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Niessen, Cornelia (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Wolff, Mauren (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines what affects supervisors' considerations about (not) using monitoring technologies to keep track of their subordinates and their work performance. Following a cost-benefit calculus approach we hypothesize that employers weigh costs and benefits of monitoring their subordinates to decide if employee performance monitoring (EPM) is beneficial to their ends. Thus, we conduct a factorial survey experiment (N = 494 supervisors). The hypothetical descriptions of workplace situations – so-called vignettes – were designed to create a situation where the surveyed supervisor is faced with a new team of subordinates and a given technology that can be used to track employees at work. Several components of the situation were randomly varied across vignettes and respondents. At the end of each situation, we asked our respondents to rate their interest to use a given monitoring technology in the described scenario. We find that supervisors are less interested in using monitoring technologies if the monitoring technology targets people rather than tasks and if the time effort for the supervisor is high. However, supervisors' monitoring interest increases if their subordinates interact with sensitive (firm) data and the data evaluation is AI supported. Further, we find that works councils play a role regarding supervisors' monitoring interest. Thus, our results support the thesis that supervisors take the costs and benefits of EPM into consideration regarding their attitude towards monitoring technologies at work. |
| Keywords: | employee performance monitoring, workplace technology, factorial survey experiment, Germany |
| JEL: | M50 D22 J01 |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16261&r=exp |