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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Brooker, Robin; Lo Iacono, Sergio |
| Abstract: | Lin et al. (2024) investigates the effect of rewarding effort on task preferences in adult participants using a mixed-design experiment with Bayesian linear regression models. The aim was to recognise whether rewarding effort increases individuals' willingness to choose effortful (harder) tasks and whether this effect persists beyond incentivised contexts. The authors find limited evidence that rewarding effort increases people's willingness to choose more effort task when rewards are no longer offered. Moreover, the authors present mixed-evidence that incentivising effort increased willingness to choose more effortful tasks in a separate unrelated and unrewarded task. We successfully computationally reproduce the main claims of the paper (hypotheses 1-8), but uncover some minor typographical/rounding errors in presentation of the confidence intervals. We further test the robustness of the results to different priors in Bayesian Regression Models using Stan, increasing the number of iterations and independent chains to estimate posterior parameters. Results are robust to these changes to model specification. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:201 |
| By: | Evan Piermon; Fernando Payró Chew |
| Abstract: | We consider an analyst whose goal is to identify a subject’s utility function through revealed preference analysis. We argue the analyst’s preference about which experiments to run should adhere to three normative principles: The first, Structural Invariance, requires that the value of a choice experiment only depends on what the experiment may potentially reveal. The second, Identification Separability, demands that the value of identification is independent of what would have been counterfactually identified had the subject had a different utility. Finally, Information Monotonicity asks that more in- formative experiments are preferred. We provide a representation theorem, showing that these three principles characterize Expected Identification Value maximization, a functional form that unifies several theories of experimental design. We also study several special cases and discuss potential applications. |
| Keywords: | choice experiments, experimental design, Revealed Preferences |
| JEL: | D81 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1471 |
| By: | Mark A. Andor; Lorenz Goette; Michael K. Price; Anna Schulze-Tilling; Lukas Tomberg |
| Abstract: | We compare the behavior and welfare effects of two popular behavioral interventions for resource conservation. The first intervention is social comparison reports (SC), primarily providing consumers with information motivating behavioral change. The second intervention is real-time feedback (RTF), primarily providing consumers with information facilitating behavioral change. In a field experiment with around 1, 000 participants, SC reduces water and energy use per shower by 9.4%, RTF by 28.8%, and the combination of both interventions by 35.0%. Participants’ willingness to pay for RTF and the combination is higher than for SC. We find that all interventions enhance welfare. |
| Keywords: | Resource Conservation, Welfare, Real-time Feedback, Social Comparison, Behavioral Intervention, Field Experiment |
| JEL: | D12 C93 Q25 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_651 |
| By: | Kjelsrud, Anders; Kotsadam, Andreas; Rogeberg, Ole; Brodeur, Abel |
| Abstract: | Siddique et al. (2024a) report massive effects of a mobile phone-based health awareness campaign in a randomized field experiment conducted in rural Bangladesh and India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both awareness and compliance with preventive COVID-19 measures were higher when the information was received by voice call rather than text, and even higher for those receiving both. Reproducing the analyses we identify many severe issues, including that the study did not in fact randomize treatment assignment. We further find implausible response patterns in the data, undisclosed sampling criteria that negate the study motivation, and an (unreported) retreatment where some of the respondents were also included in a separate study that provided additional COVID-19 information immediately before the last data collection. |
| Keywords: | Replication, Health Awareness, COVID-19 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:208 |
| By: | Fidanoski, Filip; Dixit, Vinayak; Ortmann, Andreas |
| Abstract: | Luckman et al. (2018) experimentally tested the conjecture that a single model of risky intertemporal choice can account for both risky and intertemporal choices, and under the conditions of their experiment, found evidence supporting it. Given the existing literature, that is a remarkable result which warrants (conceptual) replication. Following a tradition in psychology, Luckman et al. (2018) had first-year psychology students participate that were rewarded with non-monetary course credits (see also Luckman et al., 2020). Proper incentivisation is a long-standing bone of contention among experimentally working economists and psychologists, last but not least when it comes to the elicitation of preferences of any kind. Another reason to be sceptical is that the experiment was not properly powered up; the no-difference results reported by the authors might be spurious. In our conceptual replication of Luckman et al. (2018), we find significant differences between the risky and intertemporal choices at both the group and individual level. We find further that there is no significant difference between choices made by participants that are paid a flat incentive and participants that are paid under the random incentive scheme, at the group level. We find that order effects matter for intertemporal choices, but not for risky choices. At the individual level, we find evidence in favour of the model that assumes a common value function, but separate choice functions. This result is robust across our incentive systems, and order of presentation, but sensitive to different prior distributions. |
| Keywords: | experimental practices, replication, risky intertemporal preferences, risk preferences, time preferences |
| JEL: | C11 C52 C91 D01 D81 D90 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:205 |
| By: | Metiu, Norbert; Stockerl, Valentin |
| Abstract: | Using a randomized information experiment embedded in a representative survey, we study households' economic expectations at onset of the COVID-19 crisis. Our experimental evidence indicates that households are not fully aware of what is happening in the economy shortly after the pandemic outbreak. Households that receive information on experts' views on the economy become more pessimistic and uncertain about the economic outlook and less willing to consume. Surprisingly, this also holds for households that receive information on major monetary and fiscal stimulus measures announced in response to the COVID-19 crisis, suggesting that policy announcements convey bad news about the economy that overshadow the good news about the measures announced. The effects are driven by households who are less exposed to and less informed about the economic consequences of the pandemic, underscoring that personal experiences receive a large weight in household expectation formation. |
| Keywords: | household expectations, beliefs, information, policy announcements, randomized information experiment, COVID-19 |
| JEL: | D12 D83 D91 E58 G11 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdps:311843 |
| By: | Amoozadeh Mahdiraji, Hanif |
| Abstract: | The culture of cynicism expresses that problems in sustainable financial resource security could come from the historical distrust of society members and the government. This study uses a simulated experiment to evaluate this claim while analyzing possible solutions to escape this non-cooperation trap. Therefore, it analyzes the “reasons behind this non-cooperation” while evaluating effective methods to get out of it with an experimental approach using the gaming method as a simulation tool. In this experiment, more than 1, 200 people participated in the game through a telegram robot. The experiment results show that people’s cooperation with the government is affected by the government's performance more than the cooperation between other society members or their previous experiences. Finally, a logistic regression model is presented to predict the behavior of participants in the future. |
| Date: | 2024–03–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:jx4h9_v1 |
| By: | Anja Sautmann; Carolina Lopez; Schaner, Simone |
| Abstract: | Can better information on the value of diagnostic tests improve adoption and help patients recognize higher quality of care? In a randomized experiment in public clinics in Mali, providers and patients received tailored information about the importance of rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) for malaria. The provider training increased reliance on RDTs and improved the match between a patient's malaria status and treatment with antimalarials by 15-30 percent. Nonetheless, patients were significantly less satisfied with the care they received, driven by those whose prior beliefs did not match their malaria status. The patient information intervention reduced malaria testing and did not improve treatment outcomes or patient satisfaction. These findings are consistent with highly persistent patient beliefs and distrust of the promoted diagnostic technology, which translate into low demand and limit patients' ability to recognize improved quality of care. |
| Date: | 2024–04–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10746 |
| By: | Brodeur, Abel; Fiala, Lenka; Fitzgerald, Jack; Kujansuu, Essi; Valenta, David; Rogeberg, Ole; Bensch, Gunther |
| Abstract: | Vlassopoulos et al. (2024) find that after providing two hours of telephone counseling over three months, a sample of Bangladeshi women saw significant reductions in stress and depression after ten months. We find three anomalies. First, estimates are almost entirely driven by reverse-scored survey items, which are handled inconsistently both in the code and in the field. Second, participants in this experiment are reused from multiple prior experiments conducted by the paper's authors, and estimates are extremely sensitive to the experiment from which participants originate. Finally, inconsistencies and irregularities in raw survey files raise doubts about the data. |
| Keywords: | Reproduction, Replication, Mental health, COVID-19 pandemic |
| JEL: | B41 C12 I12 I18 J16 O12 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:207 |
| By: | Gilles Grolleau (ESSCA School of Management Lyon); Luc Meunier (ESSCA School of Management, Aix-en-Provence); Naoufel Mzoughi (ECODEVELOPPEMENT - Ecodéveloppement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | Inspired from Kahneman's seminal contributions to the theory of framing, we test the impact of noun-versus verb-based framings (e.g., do not be a polluter versus do not pollute) on individuals' behavioral intentions towards two pro-environmental messages aiming at reducing waste. Using a non-incentivized laboratory experimental survey, we find a significant effect of messages framed as verb-based actions (i.e., do not pollute, do not waste) in driving individuals to sign a petition in favor of garbage recycling and accept to receive tips about food waste. Additionally, we also identify a significant negative influence of reactance, hampering pro-environmental behavior. We discuss our exploratory results keeping in mind the humility that characterizes Kahneman's scholarly legacy. |
| Keywords: | behavioral intentions, pollution, framing, moral identity, moral self-image, recycling, waste |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04926850 |
| By: | Hertweck, Friederike; Jonas, Lukas; Kistner, Melissa; Maffia, Deborah |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the impact of a low-cost, color-coded scale intervention designed to inform university students about the expected workload for a course, with the aim of improving students' academic performance and learning behaviors. An initial intervention took place at the beginning of the course, with a follow-up reminder in the middle of the semester. Students who were treated once experienced no significant effect, but those who additionally received the second treatment significantly improved their course grade, scoring 0.51 points (or 21 %) higher on average. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that first-generation, migrant and high-ability students benefited most from the intervention, suggesting that such a treatment may help reduce some forms of educational inequality. To explore the underlying mechanisms, we utilized tracking data from an online learning platform through which the lecturer distributed course materials and provided opportunities for self-paced learning. While we find an overall increase in online activity following the intervention (though imprecisely measured), no specific academic behavior such as online test participation or material downloads can explain the ultimate increase in grades by itself. |
| Abstract: | Diese Studie untersucht die Auswirkungen einer kostengünstigen Intervention mit einer farbkodierten Skala, die Studierende über die zu erwartende Arbeitsbelastung in einem Kurs informieren soll, mit dem Ziel, ihre akademischen Leistungen und das Lernverhalten zu verbessern. Eine erste Intervention fand zu Beginn des Kurses statt, mit einer erneuten Erinnerung in der Mitte des Semesters. Bei den Studierenden, die nur Teil der ersten Intervention waren, zeigte sich kein signifikanter Effekt. Diejenigen, die zusätzlich die zweite Intervention erhielten, verbesserten ihre Kursnote hingegen signifikant und erzielten im Durchschnitt eine um 0, 51 Notenpunkte (oder 21%) bessere Bewertung. Heterogenitätsanalysen zeigen, dass Studierende ohne akademischen Hintergrund, Studierende mit Migrationshintergrund und leistungsstarke Studierende am meisten von der Intervention profitierten, was darauf hindeutet, dass eine solche Behandlung dazu beitragen kann, einige Formen der Bildungsungleichheit zu verringern. Um die zugrundeliegenden Mechanismen zu erforschen, nutzten wir Tracking-Daten einer Online-Lernplattform, über die der Dozent Kursmaterialien verteilte und Möglichkeiten zum selbstgesteuerten Lernen bot. Während wir eine allgemeine Zunahme der Online-Aktivitäten nach der Intervention feststellen (wenn auch ungenau gemessen), kann kein spezifisches akademisches Verhalten wie die Teilnahme an Online-Tests oder das Herunterladen von Materialien den letztendlichen Anstieg der Noten alleine erklären. |
| Keywords: | Student performance, field experiment, higher education, color-coded nudge, RCT |
| JEL: | I20 I23 J24 J08 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:312426 |
| By: | Daniele Chiavenato; Ricardo A. Madeira; Vitor Vaccaro |
| Abstract: | Can an applied mathematics curriculum enhance student intrinsic motivation and improve math achievement? We tackle this question through a randomized control trial of a program that integrates financial education into the mathematics curriculum in Brazil. Spanning 190 public schools and over 15, 000 students, our study reveals that the program significantly boosts students’ interest in mathematics and enhances financial literacy and math performance, particularly among students from poorer socioeconomic backgrounds. Initially, the program strengthens these students’ internal locus of control and broad interest in mathematics during the first year. By the second year’s conclusion, it positively impacts their financial literacy, math proficiency, and specific socio-emotional skills crucial for the labor market. However, we do not observe significant changes in self-reported financial behaviors or attitudes as measured by a financial autonomy index. |
| Keywords: | Financial education, School attainment, Socio-emotional skills, Youth, Randomized controlled trials |
| JEL: | G53 I21 J24 O12 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp666 |
| By: | Ilke Aydogan; Aurélien Baillon (EM - EMLyon Business School); Emmanuel Kemel; Chen Li |
| Abstract: | Belief‐updating biases hinder the correction of inaccurate beliefs and lead to suboptimal decisions. We complement Rabin and Schrag's (1999) portable extension of the Bayesian model by including conservatism in addition to confirmatory bias. Additionally, we show how to identify these two forms of biases from choices. In an experiment, we found that the subjects exhibited confirmatory bias by misreading 19% of the signals that contradicted their priors. They were also conservative and acted as if they missed 28% of the signals. |
| Keywords: | Non-Bayesian updating, conservatism, confirmatory bias, perceived signals, belief elicitation |
| Date: | 2025–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04911749 |
| By: | Bosch, Oriol J. (The London School of Economics and Political Science); Asensio, Marc; Roberts, Caroline |
| Abstract: | Smartphones are now ubiquitous in daily life, requiring the development of accurate methodologies to study their impact on various aspects of human experience. A promising approach to collect mobile log data is to ask participants to donate, in the context of online surveys, the data that is already available to them through features such as iOS Screen Time and Android Digital Wellbeing. This approach grants participants control over the data they share while providing researchers with valuable observational insights into their mobile and app behaviours. However, the active involvement required from participants poses challenges, leading to low compliance rates and potential biases in the final sample of donors. This study investigates whether the method used to collect data donations, and the incentives provided, have an impact on compliance rates, and the subsequent composition of the sample. Specifically, we implemented a 2 x 3 between-subject web survey experiment (N = 872) in a research-led probability-based panel in Switzerland. Participants were randomly asked to capture and share their data through screenshots, video recordings, and by manual imputation (which we call enhanced recall). Results show that, while compliance rates are very low when using screenshots and video recordings as data donation methods, almost two thirds of participants donated their data by manually imputing their log data. The methods also differ in terms of sample composition, with enhanced recall introducing fewer biases. Overall, our study sheds light on maximizing compliance in data donation studies, offering insights for researchers studying mobile and app usage. |
| Date: | 2024–04–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:q8v35_v1 |
| By: | Reiss, Michael V.; Roggenkamp, Hauke |
| Abstract: | We examine the reproducibility and robustness of the central claims from Robertson et al. (2023) who investigate the impact of negative language on online news consumption by analyzing over 12, 448 randomized controlled trials on upworthy.com. Applying "lexical" sentiment analyses, the authors make two central claims: first, they find that headlines with negative words significantly increase click-through rates (CTR). Second, they find that positive words in a headline reduce a news headline's CTR. Our reproducibility efforts include two different techniques: using the same data and procedures described in the study, we successfully reproduce the two claims through a blind computational approach, with only minor and inconsequential discrepancies. When using the authors' codes, we reproduce the two claims with identical numerical results. Examining the robustness of the authors' claims in a pre-registered third step, we validate and apply a "semantic" sentiment analysis using two large language models to re-compute their independent variables describing negativity and positivity. While we find support for the negativity bias, we do not find semantic (in contrast to lexical) positivity to reduce online news consumption. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:199 |
| By: | Gomez, Miguel Alberto (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule); Winger, Gregory |
| Abstract: | Cyber operations as a facet of international competition pose a direct challenge to alliances. Designed to respond to conventional military attacks, alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must now determine whether their defensive commitments extend into cyberspace. This question is not limited to political and military elites. As the use of force in defense of allies is among the most politically charged decisions a state can make and relies significantly on public support. This article extends recent public opinion literature on cyber conflict to investigate public attitudes towards existing treaty commitments following a destructive cyber operation against an allied state. Using a survey experiment involving U.S. nationals, we find that while subjects are sensitive to treaty obligations and allied casualties these effects are moderated by domain expertise. Furthermore, we observe that specific aggressor-ally dyads tied to geographic region can shape public preferences with subjects being more reactive to Europe based scenarios that comparable treatments in Asia. |
| Date: | 2023–12–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:bcwhu_v1 |
| By: | Catia Batista; David M. Costa; Pedro Freitas; Goncalo Lima; Ana Balcao Reis |
| Abstract: | Study abroad migration is the fastest growing international migration flow. However, the college completion rates of students from low-income countries are often modest in OECD countries, raising the hypothesis that these migrants are poorly informed about the costs and benefits of their decision. Our work tests this hypothesis by running a lab-in-the-field experiment where graduating high school students in Cape Verde are faced with incentivized decisions to apply for college studies abroad. Our results show that potential migrants react strongly to information about the availability of financial support and about college completion rates. Since subjects’ prior beliefs on availability of financial support are overestimated, it is likely that study migrants need to shift their time from study to work after uninformed migration, which likely harms their scholar performance. Policies that inform potential migrants of actual study funding possibilities should decrease study migration flows but are likely to improve successful graduation. |
| Keywords: | International study migration, Lab-in-the-field experiment, Education, Information, Uncertainty |
| JEL: | O15 F22 J61 C91 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unl:unlfep:wp660 |
| By: | Ramachandran, Rajesh (Monash University Malaysia); Rustagi, Devesh (University of Warwick); Emilia Soldani, Emilia (OECD) |
| Abstract: | We investigate whether discrimination by teachers explains the large gap in educational outcomes between students from marginalized and non-marginalized groups. Using the context of India, we start with a correspondence study to show that teachers assign 0.29 standard deviations lower grade to an exam of equal quality but with a lower caste surname. We then conduct incentivized surveys, behavioral experiments, and vignettes to highlight some of the invisible elements that are critical to understanding discrimination. We find that teachers hold biased attitudes and beliefs about lower caste individuals, which are associated with poor grading outcomes. We conduct a mechanism intervention based on invoking empathy among teachers to mitigate discrimination. We find that discrimination disappears in the treatment group, and the effect is largest for teachers with higher baseline empathy. These findings are not due to social desirability. Our findings offer a proof-of-concept to understand mental processes that could be instrumental in designing policies to mitigate discrimination. |
| Keywords: | Discrimination ; Correspondence study ; Caste ; Attitudes ; Beliefs ; Empathy ; India JEL Codes: C90 ; I24 ; J15 ; J16 ; Z13 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1545 |
| By: | Robert D. Metcalfe; Sefi Roth |
| Abstract: | Exposure to ambient air pollution has been shown to be detrimental to human health and productivity, and has motivated many policies to reduce such pollution. However, given that humans spend 90% of their time indoors, it is important to understand the degree of exposure to Indoor Air Pollution (IAP), and, if high, ways to reduce it. We design and implement a field experiment in London that monitors households’ IAP and then randomly reveals their IAP in real-time. At baseline, we find that IAP is worse than ambient air pollution when residents are at home and that for 38% of the time, IAP is above World Health Organization standards. Additionally, we observe a large household income-IAP gradient, larger than the income-ambient pollution gradient, highlighting large income disparities in IAP exposure. During our field experiment, we find that the randomized revelation reduces IAP by 17% (1.9 μg/m³) overall and 34% (5 μg/m³) during occupancy time. We show that the mechanism is households using more natural ventilation as a result of the feedback (i.e., opening up doors and windows). Finally, in terms of welfare, we find that: (i) households have a willingness to pay of £4.8 ($6) for every 1 μg/m ³ reduction in indoor PM2.5; (ii) households have a higher willingness to pay for mitigation than for full information; (iii) households have a price elasticity of IAP monitor demand around -0.75; and (iv) a £1 subsidy for an IAP monitor or an air purifier has an infinite marginal value of public funds, i.e., a Pareto improvement. |
| JEL: | Q5 Q53 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:33510 |
| By: | G. Vecchietti; S. Dyussembayeva; G. Viglia; M. Nassar; O. Untilov (Audencia Business School) |
| Abstract: | This work examines how the type of breakfast offered by a family-run hotel affects guests' decisions to stay. Grounded in the construal level theory, we hypothesize that offering a traditional, local breakfast, compared to a continental one, increases the likelihood of guests staying, especially among leisure travelers in a family run hotel. A field experiment (n = 146) and an online study (n = 300) test this hypothesis by exposing guests to different breakfast conditions. The findings confirm that traditional, local breakfast increases the number of guests who stay for breakfast, with a stronger effect for tourist travelers. Perceived authenticity mediates this relationship. The paper contributes to understanding consumer decision-making in hospitality and offers practical implications for revenue management, suggesting that providing traditional, local breakfast can increase hotel profits. |
| Keywords: | Family-run hotels, Construal level theory, Authenticity, Traditional, Breakfast |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04922450 |
| By: | Frese, Joris |
| Abstract: | This report investigates the computational reproducibility and robustness of the paper "Seeing Racial Avoidance on New York City Streets" (Dietrich and Sands 2023). These reproduction efforts are part of the mass reproduction initiative for articles published in Nature Human Behaviour (NHB), which is jointly organized by the Institute for Replication and NHB. In the original NHB paper, Dietrich and Sands analyze a field experiment in New York City, finding that "pedestrians deviate by, on average, 3.43% of the sidewalk width [...] or around 4 inches, in the presence of black confederates" (compared to white confederates), signalling a statistically significant racial avoidance of black people. For this report, I first conduct a step-by-step reproduction of the original replication materials, followed by robustness checks including 1) an analysis without outliers, 2) analyses with alternative seeds for the bootstrapped standard errors, and 3) an analyis with non-bootstrapped standard errors. I find that the original results are fully reproducible and that they are robust to many, but not all, alternative specifications. |
| Keywords: | Computational Reproducibility, Robustness, I4R, Racial Avoidance |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:202 |
| By: | Malte Baader (University of Zurich - Department Finance); Maxim Egorov (Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen); Baiba Renerte (University of Zurich - Department of Finance); Carmen Tanner (University of Zurich - Department of Finance; Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen); Alexander F. Wagner (University of Zurich - Department of Finance; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); European Corporate Governance Institute (ECGI); Swiss Finance Institute); Nicole Witt (Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen) |
| Abstract: | Unethical behavior, deception, and fraud are major concerns in corporate governance. This paper examines the effectiveness of contemplation questions (CQs) as decision aids for employees facing ethical dilemmas. CQs, such as "Will the reputation of our company be damaged if my decision is made public?" are intended to activate moral agency and prompt employees to consider their actions from various perspectives (e.g., self, peers, company). Despite being used by 44% of S&P 200 and Fortune Global 200 companies, their effectiveness remains untested. Through two pre-registered, incentivized vignette experiments, we systematically investigate the causal effect of CQs on ethical decisionmaking. In Study 1 (N = 1, 986), merely presenting CQs had no impact on ethical decisions. In Study 2 (N = 1, 322), actively engaging participants by requiring explicit answers to CQs led to marginally more ethical decisions among individuals with high moral identity but significantly fewer ethical decisions among those with low moral identity. These findings align with a conceptual framework of motivated moral reasoning and suggest that while CQs can positively affect some individuals, they also backfire, promoting unethical behavior precisely in those already predisposed to such tendencies. |
| Keywords: | Organizational behavior, Ethical decision making |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chf:rpseri:rp2518 |
| By: | Cameron, Lisa; Contreras Suarez, Diana Stella; Setyonaluri, Diahhadi |
| Abstract: | How to influence social norms that drive behavior in relation to women’s participation in employment is not well understood. Providing randomly selected participants with information on the extent of (i) women’s support for women with children working; (ii) husband’s support for sharing day-to-day childcare with wives; and (iii) mothers’ and mother-in-law’s support for working women, increased the probability of choosing an online career mentoring course for women over a shopping voucher of equal value by 25 percent. Information beyond women’s support for working women further increased support for women working for some groups, although not strongly so. |
| Date: | 2024–01–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10681 |
| By: | Maria Bigoni (University of Bologna); Gabriele Camera (Economic Science Institute, Chapman University); Marco Casari (University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | Historically, shocks originating in the financial sector often spilled over into the real sector with dramatic consequences. We study in the lab how interventions targeting disclosure and capital requirements of financial intermediaries can reduce insolvencies or prevent their negative effects from propagating to the broader economy. In our two-sector economy, consumers and producers can fund financial intermediaries, who in turn provide them with liquidity to settle trades. However, intermediaries may undertake risky investments and become insolvent, which depresses real economic activity. In the experiment, insolvencies were frequent. As a consequence, consumers and producers often refused to fund intermediaries, which lowered the trade volume. Imposing the disclosure of risky investments did not reduce risk-taking and insolvencies. Instead, imposing capital requirements prevented insolvencies from disrupting real economic activity, thus boosting financial intermediation and trade. |
| Keywords: | Asymmetric information; Laboratory experiment; Limited Liability; Prudential regulation |
| JEL: | C92 D82 E44 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:24-18 |
| By: | Kilic, Talip; Koolwal, Gayatri B.; Vundru, Wilbert Drazi; Daum, Thomas Lothar Georg; Buchwald, Hannes; Seymour, Greg; Mvula, Peter Mathias; Munthali, Alister Chaundumuka; Kachinjika, Monice |
| Abstract: | Based on a randomized survey experiment in Malawi, this study examines how innovative techniques in time use data collection could sidestep measurement concerns with traditional recall-based time use measurement. The experiment assigns random samples of households, and adult men and women within, to one of two treatment arms on time use measurement: a traditional 24-hour recall time use diary, and a self-administered smartphone-based pictorial time diary, known as the TimeTracker app, for real-time data collection. Compared to the recall arm, participation in employment and unpaid domestic and care work is shown to be higher in the smartphone arm for both men and women. The resulting estimates of gender gaps, while continuing to be large, are narrower in the smartphone arm, except for care work where the estimated gender gap increases. The recall treatment leads to substantial underreporting of activities after 6 pm, which otherwise accounts for nearly 30 percent of daily reported time in the smartphone arm. Likewise, the extent of simultaneous activities, particularly among women, is markedly lower in the recall arm. The overall reported time is, however, higher in the recall arm due to the minimum 15-minute duration that was used for recording activities the 24-hour recall diary, while over one-third of activities lasted less than 15 minutes in the smartphone arm. The analysis also shows that using stylized time use questions with a 7-day recall, as opposed to a 24-hour recall diary, results in an even greater overestimation of reported time in employment and unpaid work. |
| Date: | 2024–02–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10695 |
| By: | Hauser, Christina Sarah |
| Abstract: | When reform of gender discriminatory law fails, individual action can offer a second-best solution. As most Muslim-majority countries, Tunisia applies Islamic inheritance law, systematically favoring sons over daughters. By making gifts to their daughter, parents can privately attenuate gender discrimination in inheritance. This study investigates to what extent gifting can represent an alternative to legal reform and for whom. Within a randomized experiment, this study tests whether providing information on public support for inheritance law reform and/or the possibility to make a gift to one’s daughter has a causal impact on individual attitudes towards women’s right to inheritance. The overall evidence on the effectiveness of the proposed informational treatments to encourage gifting is mixed. However, approval of gifting daughters is high—especially among the wealthy. Men are more likely to gift than women. By contrast, demand for legal reform is significantly higher among women and individuals with low educational attainment. The findings thus suggest that gifting indeed represents an alternative to legal reform; but mostly for a relatively well-off subset of the population, leaving the agency to the traditionally male head of the family. |
| Date: | 2024–02–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10693 |
| By: | Green, Seth Ariel (Code Ocean) |
| Abstract: | I offer five observations on the state of contact hypothesis research five years after the publication of The Contact Hypothesis Re-evaluated. First, Rigorous field experiments have proliferated, and they often find conflicting, disappointing results. Second, to explain those conflicting results, I propose a theory of multiple forms of prejudice, some of which are amenable to contact and some of which are not. Third, light touch interventions are appropriate for light prejudices. Fourth, assimilation is an undertheorized moderator of contact. Fifth, we would still benefit from more systematic tests of Gordon Allport’s moderating conditions: shared goals, cooperation, equal status, and institutional support. |
| Date: | 2024–06–27 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:8mcb5_v1 |
| By: | Díaz, Lina M.; Martínez Villarreal, Déborah; Marquez Guerra, Karina Olenka Stella; Scartascini, Carlos |
| Abstract: | Cervical cancer, primarily caused by persistent Human Papillomavirus (HPV) infection, remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women in developing countries. Although HPV vaccines are widely available in these regions, vaccine uptake remains persistently low. To address behavioral barriers contributing to this low demand, we evaluated the effectiveness of a behaviorally informed SMS campaign targeting parents in Cali, Colombia. Our study included 15, 231 parents, who were randomized into six groups: control, placebo, and four behaviorally informed treatment groups, forming a large-scale study of text-based nudges. Participants received tailored messages over eight weeks. The intervention yielded significant increases in vaccination rates, with improvements ranging from 34% to 55%. Furthermore, the economic analysis demonstrated that the intervention generated between USD 3.6 and USD 5.75 in economic benefits for every dollar spent, primarily due to prevented deaths. These findings underscore the potential of behavioral interventions in enhancing HPV vaccination rates among parents and emphasize the cost-effectiveness and relative success of each intervention strategy. This study provides actionable insights for public health officials to design targeted strategies that address vaccination disparities and promote preventive healthcare practices. |
| Keywords: | HPV Vaccine |
| JEL: | D01 I12 |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:idb:brikps:13990 |
| By: | Miller, Amisha; Lall, Saurabh A.; Goldstein, Markus P.; Montalvao Machado, Joao H. C. |
| Abstract: | Female innovators raise fewer resources from investors, even when their ventures are similar to those of all-male teams. Efforts to mitigate the disparities have typically focused on changing how founders seek investment. However, the causes of gender disparities are systemic: in uncertain contexts, evaluators value women’s competence or leadership potential lower than men’s, and investors inquire more about risks when facing female founders than males. What is the effect of investment organizations’ evaluation practices on gender disparities in funding innovation This paper examines a two-stage global field experiment with investors making 1, 871 investment decisions on early-stage startups, which resulted in $320, 000 invested in 16 startups. The experiment changed an organization’s evaluation framework to systematize investor inquiry across all ventures by including prompts about (1) risk and reward and (2) progress during the evaluation period. This caused treated investors to (1) assess startups more consistently and (2) assess startup competence more dynamically than control investors. It eliminated, even reversed, the gender gap in investment outcomes. These results have implications for organizations making decisions in uncertain contexts, and those aiming to reduce gender disparities. |
| Date: | 2023–12–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10625 |
| By: | Barnett, Carolyn Louise |
| Abstract: | To what extent do attitudes and perceived norms around household roles hinder the emergence of more gender-equal distributions of labor in Morocco Moroccan women undertake a disproportionate share of unpaid household and care labor and participate in the labor force at low rates. Yet everyday practices are shifting, and normative expectations may be as well. From an online survey of predominantly urban, employed Moroccans, this paper finds that respondents aspire for men to be equal contributors in care tasks. Yet, unpaid labor burdens remain highly unequal, respondents disfavor men taking primary responsibility for cooking or cleaning, and women's share of household labor correlates with perceptions of what men prefer more than with individuals' actual preferences. Results from a conjoint survey experiment measuring preferences around employment and the household division of labor confirm respondents' interest in more egalitarian relations in principle, but also suggest that strong preferences for a male breadwinner family model will continue to drive an unequal distribution of labor at home. |
| Date: | 2024–02–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10694 |
| By: | Bedoya Arguelles, Guadalupe; Belyakova, Yulia; Coville, Aidan; Escande, Thomas; Isaqzadeh, Mohammad; Ndiaye, Aminata |
| Abstract: | How do proven strategies to improve the economic conditions of ultra-poor households hold up against the increasing severity and co-incidence of economic, security, and climate shocks Five years after receiving an economic livelihoods package, and shortly prior to the 2021 regime change, “ultra-poor” women in Afghanistan continued to have significantly higher levels of consumption, assets, market work participation, financial inclusion, children’s school enrollment, and women’s psychological well-being and empowerment, relative to the control group. Households boost resilience by diversifying productive activities and the program improves equality by reducing the gaps between ultra-poor and non-ultra- poor households across multiple dimensions. The results illustrate how an increasingly popular approach to improve the conditions of the very poor through a one-off “big push” intervention can strengthen household resilience through multiple shocks in one of the most fragile settings worldwide. |
| Date: | 2023–11–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10596 |