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on Experimental Economics |
| By: | Kazunori Yakushiji; Jieyi Duan; Nobuyuki Hanaki |
| Abstract: | We conduct a replication experiment, with sophisticated student participants, of the three main treatments of the debt aversion experiment by Mart´ınez-Marquina and Shi (2024). While participants in our experiment have chosen return maximizing strategies much more frequently than those in Mart´ınez-Marquina and Shi (2024), our findings partially corroborate their observations that participants burdened with debt tend to forego, at least initially, the “certain and maximum profit investment opportunity” in favor of prioritizing debt repayment. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1269 |
| By: | Fafchamps, Marcel (Stanford University); Islam, Asadul (Monash University); Pakrashi, Debayan (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur); Tommasi, Denni (University of Bologna) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a clustered randomized controlled trial across 180 villages in Uttar Pradesh, India, to promote the take-up of a savings commitment product newly introduced to our study population. A random subset of participants was targeted through our promotional campaign to test whether the product's diffusion among untargeted participants operates primarily through information sharing or through persuasion by incentivized target participants. If social learning is the main channel of diffusion, we would expect higher sign-up and take-up rates in information villages compared to persuasion villages. Conversely, if persuasion is the primary channel, sign-up and take-up rates should be higher in persuasion villages. Our findings consistently favor the persuasion channel, as sign-up and take-up rates were higher in the persuasion treatment, even without increased financial literacy or knowledge about the product. Information alone had a negligible impact on take-up, while the combined treatment achieved the highest sign-up and conversion rates, suggesting that information complements persuasion by enhancing its effectiveness. These results highlight the importance of incentivized persuasion in promoting product take-up and suggest that, in certain contexts, direct information-sharing may be less effective than previously assumed. |
| Keywords: | diffusion, social networks, savings, financial inclusion, information, persuasion |
| JEL: | O16 D14 G21 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17555 |
| By: | Hermes, Henning; Krauß, Marina; Lergetporer, Philipp; Peter, Frauke; Wiederhold, Simon |
| Abstract: | This field experiment investigates the causal impact of mothers' perceptions of gender norms on their employment attitudes and labor-supply expectations. We provide mothers of young children in Germany with information about the prevailing gender norm regarding maternal employment in their city. At baseline, over 70% of mothers incorrectly perceive this gender norm as too conservative. Our randomized treatment improves the accuracy of these perceptions, significantly reducing the share of mothers who misperceive gender norms as overly conservative. The treatment also shifts mothers' own labor-market attitudes towards being more liberal - and we show that specifically the shifted attitude is a strong predictor of mothers' future labor-market participation. Consistently, treated mothers are significantly more likely to plan an increase in their working hours one year ahead. |
| Keywords: | gender equality, gender norms, maternal employment, randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | C93 J16 J18 J22 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:308051 |
| By: | Kvarven, Amanda; Strømland, Eirik; Torsvik, Gaute |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a randomized experiment on a representative sample from the Norwegian population (N = 1390) to test whether prosocial behavior is intuitive. We use time pressure to capture intuitive decision making and a dictator game to measure prosocial behavior. We also estimate and test for “population heterogeneity” in the effect size. First, we exogenously vary subject experience with economic games to test whether experience influences the treatment effect. Second, we leverage our data structure to conduct a "pseudo meta-analysis, " assessing effect size heterogeneity across several potential sources of heterogeneity. This helps us assess whether prior findings in the literature stem from false positives or genuine heterogeneity in effect sizes. Our results show no evidence that experience with economic experiments moderates the time pressure effect. Further, the estimated heterogeneity in effect sizes in the pseudo meta-analysis is negligible, we cannot reject the null hypothesis of a uniform p-value distribution, and our rejection rate aligns with the expected 5% from chance alone. These findings support the view that the apparent link between prosocial behavior and intuitive processing is likely due to false positives rather than heterogeneous treatment effects. |
| Date: | 2025–01–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:4kxsu |
| By: | Giang Nghiem; Lena Drager; Ami Dalloul |
| Abstract: | This paper explores communication strategies for anchoring households’ medium-term inflation expectations in a high inflation environment. We conducted a survey experiment with a representative sample of 4, 000 German households at the height of the recent inflation surge in early 2023, with information treatments including a qualitative statement by the ECB president and quantitative information about the ECB’s inflation target or projected inflation. Inflation projections are most effective, but combining information about the target with a qualitative statement also significantly improves anchoring. The treatment effects are particularly pronounced among respondents with high financial literacy and high trust in the central bank. |
| Keywords: | anchoring of inflation expectations, central bank communication, survey experiment, randomized controlled trial (RCT) |
| JEL: | E52 E31 D84 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:camaaa:2024-70 |
| By: | Gaul, Johannes J.; Keusch, Florian; Rostam-Afschar, Davud; Simon, Thomas |
| Abstract: | This study investigates how elements of a survey invitation message targeted to businesses influence their participation in a self-administered web survey. We implement a full factorial experiment varying five key components of the email invitation. Unlike traditional experimental setups with static group composition, however, we employ adaptive randomization in our sequential research design. Specifically, as the experiment progresses, a Bayesian learning algorithm assigns more observations to invitation messages with higher starting rates. Our results indicate that personalizing the message, emphasizing the authority of the sender, and pleading for help increase survey starting rates, while stressing strict privacy policies and changing the location of the survey URL have no response-enhancing effect. The implementation of adaptive randomization is useful for other applications of survey design and methodology. |
| Keywords: | Adaptive Randomization, Reinforcement Learning, Nonresponse, Email Invitation, Web Survey, Firm Survey, Organizational Survey |
| JEL: | C11 C44 C93 D83 M00 M40 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1540 |
| By: | Nobuyuki Hanaki; Yuta Takahashi |
| Abstract: | We present and conduct a novel experiment on a multi-period beauty contest game. Leveraging the new multi-period feature, we propose a new methodology to test the forward-lookingness of expectations and explore how expectations are formed in our dynamic environment. By studying how expectations are revised over time, we provide new evidence for forward-looking expectation formation. Moreover, we uncover a new effect of strategic environment: only when the game exhibits strategic complementarity do participants use extrapolation and expect increasingly higher prices in the future. This finding implies that the mode of expectation formation is endogenous to the economic environment of the participants. |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1213rr |
| By: | Heeb, Florian; Kölbel, Julian |
| Abstract: | We report results from a pre-registered field experiment about the impact of index provider engagement on corporate climate policy. A randomly chosen group of 300 out of 1227 international companies received a letter from an index provider, encouraging the company to commit to setting a science-based climate target to remain included in its climate transition benchmark indices. After one year, we observed a significant effect: 21.0% of treated companies have committed, vs. 15.7% in the control group. This suggests that engagement by financial institutions can affect corporate policies when a feasible request is combined with a credible threat of exit. |
| Keywords: | Shareholder Engagement, Field Experiment, Climate, ESG, Activism |
| JEL: | D22 D62 G23 G34 M14 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:308043 |
| By: | Huber, Christoph; Holzmeister, Felix; Johannesson, Magnus; König-Kersting, Christian; Dreber, Anna; Huber, Jürgen; Kirchler, Michael |
| Abstract: | Experimental asset markets provide a controlled approach to studying financial markets. We attempt to replicate 17 key results from four prominent studies, collecting new data from 166 markets with 1, 544 participants. Only 3 of the 14 original results reported as statistically significant were successfully replicated, with an average replication effect size of 2.9% of the original estimates. We fail to replicate findings on emotions, self-control, and gender differences in bubble formation but confirm that experience reduces bubbles and cognitive skills explain trading success. Our study demonstrates the importance of replications in enhancing the credibility of scientific claims in this field. |
| JEL: | G12 G41 C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:190 |
| By: | Michael King (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin); Daniel Putman (University of Pennsylvania Center for Social Norms and Behavioral Dynamics); Shane Byrne (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin); Chaning Jang (Busara Center for Behavioral Economics) |
| Abstract: | The high prevalence of digital financial fraud stresses businesses' ability to distinguish between real communications from digital financial service (DFS) providers and fraudulent impersonations. Besides the financial and psychological costs to businesses, fraud may erode trust in, and usage of DFS. We test two strategies for preventing non-institutional fraud: a series of anti-fraud learning interventions and a technical solution to authenticate inbound communications from a digital platform. Using a pre-registered behavioural laboratory experiment in Nigeria, we find evidence that timely educational interventions increased trust in DFS, its likely future usage, and improved knowledge about fraud four weeks post intervention. However, when we task micro business owners with evaluating the authenticity of a series of fictionalised scenarios, we do not find evidence of improvement in fraud detection, either overall, or when considering only genuine or fraudulent scenarios. Surprisingly, we find increased self-confidence in fraud detection ability, highlighting the risk of overconfidence. |
| Keywords: | Financial Behavior; Digital Finance; Fraud; Trust; Consumer Protection; Financial Inclusion; Financial Development |
| JEL: | D18 G41 G53 O12 |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep1224 |
| By: | Lipari, Francesca; Sartarelli, Marcello |
| Abstract: | Brock and De Haas (2023) study the effect of randomising applicant gender in small business loan applications that are reviewed by loan officers at a Turkish bank in a lab-in-the-field experiment based on real-life applications. The main re- sults are: first, that loan approval rates are not gendered (direct discrimination); second loan officers are 6 percentage point (26%) more likely to condition loan ap- proval to a guarantor when the applicant is a female rather than a male (indirect discrimination). In our computational replication we obtain the manuscript results. In addition, a robustness replication shows that the main results are partly driven by the role of loan types, job seniority and population differences among cities. |
| Keywords: | Gender discrimination, lending, lab experiment, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 G21 G32 J16 L25 L26 O16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:185 |
| By: | Yilong Xu (Utrecht University); Mikolaj Czajkowski (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences); Nick Hanley (University of Glasgow); Leonhard Lades (University of Stirling); Charles N. Noussair (University of Arizona); Steven Tucker (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | A large literature in behavioral science suggests that people’s emotional condition can have an impact on their choices. We consider how people’s emotions affect their stated preferences and willingness to pay for changes in environmental quality, focusing on the effects of incidental emotions. We use videos to induce emotional states and test the replicability of the results reported in Hanley et al. (2017). Additionally, we employ Face Reader software to verify whether the intended emotional states were successfully induced in our experimental treatments. We find that our treatments succeed in implementing the predicted emotional condition in terms of self-reported emotions, but had a variable effect on measured (estimated) emotional states. We replicate the key result from Hanley et al. (2017): induced emotional state has no significant effect on stated preference estimates or on willingness to pay for environmental quality changes. Moreover, we confirm that, irrespective of the treatment assignment or emotional state - be it self-reported or measured - we observe no significant effect of emotion on stated preferences. We conclude that stated preference estimates for environmental change are unaffected by changes in incidental emotions, and that preference estimates are robust to the emotional state of the responder. |
| Keywords: | behavioural economics, choice experiments, emotions, stated choice, experimental economics |
| JEL: | D01 D12 Q51 C91 D90 Q56 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2024-19 |
| By: | Menta, Giorgia (LISER); Piccari, Michela (Sapienza University of Rome); Verheyden, Bertrand (LISER) |
| Abstract: | With growing emphasis on sustainable practices, carbon taxes and congestion charges are emerging as key tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality, yet they often face public resistance. Using longitudinal data from a randomized survey experiment in Luxembourg, this paper investigates whether providing relevant information about these two green mobility policies influences pro-environmental attitudes (stated support and willingness to pay for the carbon tax) and behaviors (carbon offsetting donations). The first treatment, which informs participants that public support for urban congestion charges tends to increase after implementation, has little to no effect. In contrast, information on the use of carbon tax revenues (redistribution and energy-efficient investments) has a large positive impact on both stated and revealed pro-environmental preferences. Our results indicate that support for the carbon tax is more elastic to information on its redistributive aspect, rather than on its use for funding green projects. Additionally, constraints to behavioral change and pre-treatment environmental attitudes play a role in treatment response heterogeneity, and show that confirmation bias can moderate responses to information, especially among those skeptical of climate science. |
| Keywords: | survey experiment, climate policy, carbon tax, preferences, taxation, Luxembourg |
| JEL: | D83 H23 H31 Q58 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17578 |
| By: | Masselus, Lise; Petrik, Christina; Ankel-Peters, Jörg |
| Abstract: | Our paper examines construct validity, an often neglected yet important element affecting the generalizability of individual study results. Construct validity deals with how the operationalization of a treatment corresponds to the broader construct it intends to speak to. The universe of potential operationalizations is referred to as the design space. As an empirical example, we systematically review 45 microfinance Randomized Controlled Trials to estimate the size of the design space. Variations in the treatment operationalization matter for the observed effect. We also show that most papers generalize from the operationalized treatment to a broad construct, mostly without acknowledging underlying assumptions. |
| Keywords: | causal inference, generalizability, meta-science, microfinance, systematic review |
| JEL: | A11 C18 C93 D04 O12 O16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:184 |
| By: | Mehmood, Sultan; Naseer, Shaheen; Chen, Daniel L. |
| Abstract: | We provide experimental evidence of teacher-to-student transmission of gender attitudes in Pakistan. We randomly show teachers a pro-women’s rights visual narrative. Treated teachers increase their and students’ support for women’s rights, unbiasedness in gender IATs, and willingness to petition parliament for greater gender equality. Students improve coordination and cooperation with the opposite gender. Effects are larger when teachers teach a gender-rights curriculum. Mathematics achievement increases for classrooms assigned to form mixed-gender study groups treated with an intense program (visual narrative and curriculum), while no significant effects appear in same-sex study groups. Gender attitudes are transmissible, and cooperation improves student outcomes |
| Keywords: | teachers; attitudes; IATs; gender; inter-gender contact |
| JEL: | I24 I28 O12 C93 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:129997 |
| By: | Yuhao Fu; Nobuyuki Hanaki |
| Abstract: | This experimental study investigates whether people rely more on ChatGPT (GPT-4) than on their human peers when detecting AI-generated fake news (deepfake news). In multiple rounds of deepfake detection tasks conducted in a laboratory setting, student participants exhibited a greater reliance on ChatGPT compared to their peers. We explored this over-reliance on AI from two perspectives: the weight of advice (WOA) and the decomposition of reliance (DOR) into two stages. Our analysis indicates that reliance on external advice is primarily influenced by the source and quality of the advice, as well as the subjects’ prior beliefs, knowledge, and experience, while the type of news and time spent on tasks have no effect. Additionally, our study indicates a potential sequential mechanism of advice utilization, wherein the advice source affects reliance in both stages—activation and integration—whereas the quality of the advice, along with knowledge and experience, influences only the second stage. Our findings suggest that relying on AI to detect AI may not be detrimental and could, in fact, contribute to a deeper understanding of human-AI interaction and support advancements in AI development during the Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) era. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1233r |
| By: | Goulas, Sofoklis (Brookings Institution) |
| Abstract: | This study explores the preference for remote work by sending thousands of randomized messages to tutors advertising on an online platform across Greece. The messages requested either in-person or online tutoring. Requests for online lessons were roughly 50 percent more likely to receive a callback (10.7 vs. 7.3 percent). Female tutors, STEM tutors, and those in high-competition areas showed stronger preferences for online lessons. Tutors favoring remote work also demanded higher premiums for in-person sessions. Survey findings suggest that online tutoring aligns with higher job satisfaction, more employment opportunities, improved instructional effectiveness, and increased tutoring hours. |
| Keywords: | remote work, wages, in-person wage premium, online learning, tutoring, experiment |
| JEL: | J2 J3 J4 J6 C93 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17592 |
| By: | Roberto Galbiati (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Emeric Henry (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Nicolas Jacquemet (PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Formal enforcement punishing defectors can sustain cooperation by changing incentives. In this paper we introduce a second effect of enforcement: it can also affect the capacity to learn about the group's cooperativeness. Indeed, in contexts with strong enforcement, it is difficult to tell apart those who cooperate because of the threat of fines from those who are intrinsically cooperative types. Enforcement can then potentially have a negative dynamic impact on cooperation when it prevents learning. We provide theoretical and experimental evidence in support of this mechanism. Using a lab experiment with independent interactions and random rematching, we observe that, in early interactions, having faced an environment with fines in the past decreases current cooperation. We further show that this results from the interaction between enforcement and learning: the effect of having met cooperative partners has a stronger effect on current cooperation when this happened in an environment with no enforcement. |
| Keywords: | Enforcement, social values, cooperation, learning, spillovers, repeated games, experiments |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-04800439 |
| By: | Pelloth, Daniel; Hoffmann, Patrick |
| Abstract: | The experimental study "Letting Down the Team? Social Effects of Team Incentives" by Philip Babcock and colleagues (2015) proposes that team incentives significantly enhance individual performance through social pressure and peer effects. The findings suggest that individuals are motivated by a desire to avoid disappointing their teammates, indicating that social dynamics, such as guilt and social pressure, play a crucial role in shaping behavior in team settings. In this report, we computationally reproduce the results from the original paper and perform several robustness checks. Overall, we ascertain the good reproducibility of the study and find that the results hold across the performed robustness checks. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:188 |
| By: | Barboni, Giorgia (Warwick University); de Roux, Nicolás (Universidad de los Andes); Perez-Cardona, Santiago (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | We conducted a telephonic survey experiment with 2, 214 Venezuelan migrants to examine how their perceptions of Colombian’s social acceptance influence their engagement with the financial system. We find that 66% of the subjects we interviewed underestimate the extent to which natives are open towards migrants. We then show that providing accurate information reduces belief errors by 23 percentage points. This correction increases migrants’ willingness to interact with the financial system. In particular, individuals who initially underestimated Colombian’s acceptance of migrants are 15% more likely to visit a bank and request financial information in the next two months relative to the control group. These individuals also show a 12% increase in the willingness to open a digital wallet and an 18% increase in the willingness to open a savings account. These effects are concentrated among individuals who have not experienced episodes of discrimination in Colombia. We find no effects on the willingness to apply for a loan or an insurance product, consistent with the idea that supply barriers play a significant role for the financial inclusion of vulnerable populations. Using an instrumental variable strategy, we show that the increased willingness to engage with the financial system is driven by belief updating. Our findings highlight that misperceptions about native’s social acceptance of migrants can drive self-exclusion from the financial system. |
| Keywords: | Financial Inclusion; Migration; Beliefs; Social Acceptance |
| JEL: | D83 D91 F22 G51 |
| Date: | 2024–12–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:021278 |
| By: | Michelitch, Kristin; Horowitz, Jeremy; Lemoli, Giacomo |
| Abstract: | Where political parties form around coalitions of ethnic groups, as in many sub-Saharan African democracies, political actors’ favoritism toward their own supporters plays a prominent and normatively fraught role in electoral competition and public service delivery. However, little is known about how citizens normatively evaluate whether such “clientelistic behaviors” should be considered illegal and punishable. This study hypothesizes that citizens will desire greater punishment for clientelistic actions when (a) the behavior is more distortionary (e.g., targeting coethnics vs. copartisans vs. general people), and (b) the citizen holds opposing ethnopartisanship to the ac-tor. We also posit a positive interaction between the two. Using a survey experiment conducted in Kenya (n=1, 946) with Kikuyu and Luo respondents ahead of the 2017 national elections, we ask participants to assign punishment for various clientelistic be-haviors. The results show that citizens systematically award more punishment when actors target their supporters rather than general people, with little difference between coethnic versus copartisan targeting. Citizens also punish actors more from the oppos-ing ethnopartisanship, but there is no systematic interaction effect between the level of distortion and (un)shared ethnopartisanship. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:130034 |
| By: | Takeshi Nishimura; Nobuyuki Hanaki |
| Abstract: | The paradoxical full-surplus-extraction (FE) result, which can impair the mechanism design paradigm, is a long-standing concern in the literature. We tackle this problem by experimentally testing the performance of an FE auction, which is a second-price (2P) auction with lotteries. In the FE treatment, overbid amounts given entry increased and entry rates decreased through rounds, thus FE failed. By contrast, most subjects learned value bidding in the 2P treatment. To identify the causes of failure in the FE, we take an evolutionary-game approach. The FE auction with risk-neutral bidders has exactly two symmetric equilibria, either value bidding with full or partial entry, and only the partial-entry equilibrium is (evolutionarily or asymptotically) stable. Replicator dynamics with vanishing trends well explain observed dynamic bidding patterns. Together, these findings suggest that the FE outcome is not robust to trial-and-error learning by bidders. |
| Date: | 2024–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1266 |
| By: | Margot Belguise, Margot (Department of Economics, Warwick University); Chen, Nora Yuqian (Department of Government, Harvard University); Huang, Yuchen (Department of Economics, Sciences Po Paris;); Zhexun Mo, Zhenxun (Stone Center on Socio-Economic Inequality, GC-CUNY & World Inequality Lab) |
| Abstract: | China has experienced a remarkable rise in living standards over four decades of economic reforms, alongside a tremendous increase in inequalities. In this context, do Chinese people support redistribution of wealth gained through reform windfalls? To answer this question, we conducted an online survey experiment with a nationally representative sample from China (N = 2, 000). The treatment group was shown examples of wealth acquired through typical reform-era pathways requiring minimal ability or effort. This exposure led to a 0.1 standard deviation decrease in their support for redistribution. We propose a “reform windfall as redistribution” mechanism to explain this reduction : the treated group perceives the reform era as inherently redistributive, providing opportunities to escape systemic inequalities tied to the political system, thereby reducing the perceived need for formal redistribution. This decline in support is not driven by changes in fairness perceptions, as respondents do not attribute the wealth acquisition scenarios to ability or effort, nor do they view them as distinctly fair or unfair. Furthermore, we find limited evidence of heterogeneity, with one exception: individuals reporting higher economic pressure show an even greater reduction in redistributive support when exposed to the treatment. We hypothesize that this occurs because unmet expectations for upward mobility exacerbate their reactions to the treatment scenarios. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1532 |
| By: | Nobuyuki Hanaki; Bolin Mao; Tiffany Tsz Kwan Tse; Wenxin Zhou |
| Abstract: | This study examined participants’ willingness to pay for stock price forecasts provided by an algorithm, financial experts, and peers. Participants valued algorithmic advice more highly and relied on it as much as expert advice. This preference for algorithms – despite their similar or even lower performance – suggests a shift in perception, particularly among students, toward viewing AI as a reliable and valuable source. However, this “algorithm appreciation” reduced participants’ payoffs, as they overpaid for advice that did not sufficiently enhance performance. These findings underscore the need to develop tools and policies that enable individuals to better assess algorithm performance. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:1268 |
| By: | Heeb, Florian; Kölbel, Julian; Ramelli, Stefano; Vasileva, Anna |
| Abstract: | A fundamental concern about green investing is that it may crowd out political support for public policy addressing negative externalities. We examine this concern in a preregistered experiment shortly before a real referendum on a climate law with a representative sample of the Swiss population (N = 2, 051). We find that the opportunity to invest in a climate-friendly fund does not reduce individuals' support for climate regulation, measured as political donations and voting intentions. The results hold for participants who actively choose green investing. We conclude that the effect of green investing on political behavior is limited. |
| Keywords: | Behavioral Finance, Climate Change, ESG, Externalities, Sustainable Finance, Political Economy, Voting Behavior |
| JEL: | D14 H42 G18 P16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:308044 |
| By: | Max R. P. Grossmann |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the relationship between soft and hard paternalism by examining two kinds of restriction: a waiting period and a hard limit (cap) on risk-seeking behavior. Mandatory waiting periods have been instituted for medical procedures, gun purchases and other high-stakes decisions. Are these policies substitutes for hard restrictions, and are delayed decisions more respected? In an experiment, decision-makers are informed about an impending high-stakes decision. Treatments define when the decision is made: on the spot or after one day, and whether the initial decision can be revised. In a general population survey experiment, another class of subjects (Choice Architects) is granted the opportunity to make rules for decision-makers. Given a decision's temporal structure, Choice Architects can decide on a cap to the decision-maker's risk taking. In another treatment, Choice Architects can implement a mandatory waiting period in addition to the cap. This allows us to study the substitutional relationship between waiting periods and paternalistic action and the effect of deliberation on the autonomy afforded to the decision-maker. Our highly powered experiment reveals that exogenous deliberation has no effect on the cap. Moreover, endogenously prescribed waiting periods represent add-on restrictions that do not substitute for the cap. Choice Architects believe that, with time, the average decision-maker will take less risk and -- because of the distribution of Choice Architects' bliss points -- come closer to Choice Architects' subjective ideal choice. These findings highlight the complementarity of policy tools in targeting various parts of a distribution of decision-makers. |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2501.00863 |
| By: | Bone, John (Department of Economics, University of York,); Drouvelis, Michalis (Department of Economics, University of Birmingham); Gürgüç, Zeynep (School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London); Ray, Indrajit (Cardiff Business School) |
| Abstract: | We consider a specific parametric version of Chicken and two different correlation devices, public and private, with the same expected payoffs in equilibrium, which is also the best correlated equilibrium payoff for the game. Despite our choices of parameters (payoffs) in the game, in an experiment with these two correlated equilibria, we find that the rate of “following recommendations†vary significantly within and between two treatments using these devices. |
| Keywords: | Recommendation, Correlated equilibrium, Public device |
| JEL: | C72 C92 D83 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdf:wpaper:2024/27 |
| By: | Borjas, George J. (Harvard University); Breznau, Nate (German Institute for Adult Education (DIE)) |
| Abstract: | When studying policy-relevant topics, researchers' policy preferences may shape the design, execution, analysis, and interpretation of results. Detection of such bias is challenging because the research process itself is not normally part of a controlled experimental setting. Our analysis exploits a rare opportunity where 158 researchers working independently in 71 research teams participated in an experiment. After being surveyed about their position on immigration policy, they used the same data to answer the same well-defined empirical question: Does immigration affect the level of public support for social welfare programs? The researchers estimated 1, 253 alternative regression models, producing a frequency distribution of the measured impact ranging from strongly negative to strongly positive. We find that research teams composed of pro-immigration researchers estimated more positive impacts of immigration on public support for social programs, while anti-immigration research teams reported more negative estimates. Moreover, the methods used by teams with strong pro- or anti-immigration priors received lower "referee scores" from their peers in the experiment. These lower-rated models helped produce the different effects estimated by the teams at the tails of the immigration sentiment distribution. The underlying research design decisions are the mechanism through which ideology enters the production function for parameter estimates. |
| Keywords: | impact of immigration, social cohesion, meta analysis |
| JEL: | C90 I38 J69 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17561 |
| By: | Adjisse, Sossou; Blimpo, Moussa P.; Castañeda Dower, Paul |
| Abstract: | Balán et al. (2022) evaluate the impact of "local elites" involvement in local tax collection in a large city in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Using a randomized controlled trial to vary the identities of tax collectors, they find that local elites' involvement raises tax compliance and total revenue by 50 and 44 percent, respectively. The paper argues that the primary mechanism behind the results is better targeting made possible by local elites' superior information about property holders' willingness and ability to pay. In this replication comment, we first reproduce the paper's main results. Then, we assess the robustness of the results by (1) employing randomization inference for statistical tests; (2) controlling for baseline characteristics that are not balanced; and (3) using an alternative method to examine the claims supporting the preferred mechanism of better targeting. We find robust estimates in (1). However, the results are less robust both in terms of statistical significance and magnitude for (2) and (3). We conclude that the average treatment effect is robust, while the main claim about mechanisms, the information channel, is less robust to alternative estimation approaches. We contextualize and discuss the significance of these results, including the negligible revenue potential even under full compliance. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:i4rdps:191 |
| By: | Boinet, Césarine (University of Strathclyde); Norris, Jonathan (University of Strathclyde); Romiti, Agnese (University of Strathclyde); Shi, Zhan (University of Kent); Telemo, Paul (University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | Mothers may face pressure to sort out of the labor market due to perceptions that women have an absolute advantage in child-rearing, even when their earnings potential matches that of men. Guided by a simple model, we use a survey experiment where we equalize earnings potential across gender and show that women are perceived to hold an absolute advantage in childrearing. We then experimentally test mechanisms underlying these beliefs, finding that mothers are expected to spend more time on skill investments with their children than fathers who have equivalent time available. Finally, we find that when mothers work full-time, children's actual performance is generally underestimated, but providing factual information about their outcomes, leads to more accurate beliefs and reduced expectations of harm to the child. Our results show that beliefs about an absolute advantage for women in child-rearing are indeed present and highlight the need for targeted interventions to address misinformation about children's outcomes when mothers pursue careers. |
| Keywords: | motherhood penalty, absolute advantage, belief elicitation, information |
| JEL: | D13 D83 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17574 |
| By: | Alabrese, Eleonora (University of Bath, CAGE and SAFE); Capozza, Francesco (WZB Berlin, BSoE, and CESifo); Garg, Prashant (Imperial College London) |
| Abstract: | As social media is increasingly popular, we examine the reputational costs of its increased centrality among academics. Analyzing posts of 98, 000 scientists on Twitter (2016-2022) reveals substantial and varied political discourse. We assess the impact of such online political expression with online experiments on a representative sample of 3, 700 U.S. respondents and 135 journalists who rate vignettes of synthetic academic profiles with varied political affiliations. Politically neutral scientists are viewed as the most credible. Strikingly, on both the 'left' and 'right' sides of politically neutral, there is a monotonic penalty for scientists displaying political affiliations: the stronger their posts, the less credible their profile and research are perceived, and the lower the public's willingness to read their content, especially among oppositely aligned respondents. A survey of 128 scientists shows awareness of this penalty and a consensus on avoiding political expression outside their expertise. |
| Keywords: | Social Media, Scientists’ Credibility, Polarization, Online Experiment JEL Classification: A11, C93, D72, D83, D91, I23, Z10, Z13 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:735 |
| By: | Bocoum, Fadima; Hartwig, Renate; Koala, Moumouni; Merkel, Lena; Ouedraogo, Salfo |
| Abstract: | Do consumers change their self-medication practices when drug quality changes? We present experimental evidence on this question in the context of Burkina Faso, where self-medication with antibiotics is a prevalent practise. We conduct chemical quality testing of antibiotics and find that one in three products on the market is substandard or counterfeit, exposing consumers to significant risk and uncertainty. Survey data and experiments show that consumers are aware of the risk posed by substandard antibiotics. However, they are not sufficiently able to judge quality based on visual cues and market information. Our experimental data suggest that self-medication increases as drug quality becomes more certain. The results suggest that measures to improve drug quality in the market might be accompanied by increased self-medication. |
| Abstract: | Ändern Konsumenten ihre Selbstmedikationspraktiken, wenn sich die Arzneimittelqualität ändert? Wir präsentieren experimentelle Evidenz zu dieser Frage im Kontext von Burkina Faso - einem Kontext in dem die Selbstmedikation mit Antibiotika eine weit verbreitete Praxis ist. Wir führen chemische Qualitätstests von Antibiotika durch und stellen fest, dass jedes dritte Produkt auf dem Markt minderwertig oder gefälscht ist. Konsumenten sind daher einem erheblichen Risiko und großer Unsicherheit ausgesetzt. Umfragedaten und Experimente zeigen, dass sich die Verbraucher des Risikos bewusst sind, das von minderwertigen Antibiotika ausgeht. Sie sind jedoch nicht ausreichend in der Lage, die Qualität anhand von visuellen Hinweisen und Marktinformationen zu beurteilen. Unsere experimentellen Daten deuten darauf hin, dass die Selbstmedikation zunimmt, wenn die Arzneimittelqualität sicherer wird. Die Ergebnisse suggerieren, dass Maßnahmen zur Verbesserung der Arzneimittelqualität auf dem Markt mit einem Anstieg der Selbstmedikation einhergehen könnten. |
| Keywords: | Antibiotics, decision-making, health care, uncertainty, Burkina Faso |
| JEL: | D11 D81 I12 I15 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:306840 |
| By: | Jeanne Hagenbach (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research, WZB - Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung); Charlotte Saucet (UP1 UFR02 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - École d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We experimentally study how individuals read strategically transmitted information when they have preferences over what they will learn. Subjects play disclosure games in which Receivers should interpret messages skeptically. We vary whether the state that Senders communicate about is ego-relevant or neutral for Receivers, and whether skeptical beliefs are aligned or not with what Receivers prefer believing. Compared to neutral settings, skepticism is significantly lower when it is self-threatening, and not enhanced when it is self-serving. These results shed light on a new channel that individuals can use to protect their beliefs in communication situations: they exercise skepticism in a motivated way, that is, in a way that depends on the desirability of the conclusions that skeptical inferences lead to. We propose two behavioural models that can generate motivated skepticism. In one model, the Receiver freely manipulates his beliefs after having made skeptical inferences. In the other, the Receiver reasons about evidence in steps and the depth of his reasoning is motivated. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-04821601 |
| By: | Abay, Kibrom A.; Berhane, Guush; Gilligan, Daniel O.; Tafere, Kibrom; Taffesse, Alemayehu Seyoum |
| Abstract: | Targeting is an important but challenging process in the design and delivery of social and humanitarian assistance programs. Community-based targeting (CBT) approaches are often preferred for their local information advantages, especially when data-driven methods are not feasible. However, how different variants of CBT approaches fare under various constraints and environments remains unclear. For example, it is not obvious whether agents involved in CBT maximize the number of beneficiaries or the intensity of transfers when given different levels of discretion or they face budget constraints. We implemented a clustered randomized control trial among community leaders in 180 villages in Ethiopia to evaluate how community leaders target and allocate resources when they face budget constraints and are in the presence (absence) of discretion. We find that under resource constraints, community leaders prefer to maximize the number of beneficiaries even at the expense of thinly spreading budgets (reducing average transfers to beneficiaries). Community leaders are keen to minimize exclusion errors even at the expense of increased inclusion errors, suggesting that community leaders may be sensitive to potential communal repercussions and hence prefer to accommodate beneficiaries who would otherwise be excluded based on survey-based measures and indicators of poverty. Consistent with this, we find that offering community leaders some level of discretion helps them reduce exclusion errors and include those most deprived or those affected by armed conflicts. Finally, we find that community leaders are more vulnerable to favoritism when real stakes (rather than hypothetical) are involved, budgets are relatively larger, and they lack discretion. We offer nuanced evidence about the implications of implementing CBT designs in the absence of incentives for community leaders to reveal how they use local information. |
| Keywords: | community development; fragility; social protection; targeting; Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Ethiopia |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2289 |
| By: | Schubert, Torben; Kroll, Henning; Karaulova, Maria; Blind, Knut |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the factual effects of new public management governance on academics' job choice. Based on a large-scale choice experiment carried out with faculty from Germany's nine leading technical universities, we find that working environments characterised by levels of administrative burden and high expectations concerning third party funding acquisition are detrimental to self-actualisation and hence tend to repel potential candidates. More specifically, we find this effect to be most pronounced for those candidates that universities would be strategically most interested in: researchers with a strong track record and an interdisciplinary profile. Not denying potential benefits of external incentives for existing faculty, we therefore suggest to acknowledge intrinsic motivation as the key driving factor of academics choices and to design future governance structures accordingly. |
| Keywords: | Choice Experiment, German Researchers, Fraunhofer ISI |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fisidp:306353 |
| By: | Alger, Ingela; Bayer, Péter |
| Abstract: | Norms indicate which behaviors are commonly expected and/or considered to be morally right. We examine how such norms come about and change by modeling a population of individuals with preferences – found elsewhere to be evolutionarily founded – combining ma-terial self-interest, Kantian moral concerns, and attitudes towards being materially ahead and behind others. The individuals interact in a public goods game. We identify conditions on preferences and beliefs which promote, respectively hamper, spontaneous norm change. Cru-cially, an individual’s preferences and beliefs about the material benefits uniquely determines her threshold for collective behavior: s/he contributes if and only if sufficiently many others do so. However, those with sufficiently strong Kantian concerns contribute regardless. |
| Keywords: | moral norms; descriptive norms; social norms; social-Kantian preferences |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:130038 |
| By: | Dorian Jullien (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Alexandre Truc (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur) |
| Abstract: | Existing histories of behavioral and experimental economics (BE-XP) are mostly focused on the intellectual and institutional developments of these approaches in the United States of America -and to a lesser extent in Germany. While a seminal contribution to these approaches was produced in the early 1950s in France by Maurice Allais, the literature is rather silent on how BE-XP developed subsequently in France. We propose to fill this gap by comparing the history of BE-XP in France to international trends previously identified in the literature. We show that after an ambivalent influence of the work of Allais ( 1953) on BE-XP in France during the 1980s, that influence rapidly faded. BE-XP in France then largely follows international trends. We nevertheless identify some heterogeneity across the French territory and the development of at least two national specificities on the measurement of utility and the modeling of social preferences. |
| Keywords: | Scientometrics, Behavioral economics, Experimental economics, History of economics |
| Date: | 2024–11–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-04810987 |
| By: | Kenju Kamei; Louis Putterman; Katy Tabero; Jean-Robert Tyran |
| Abstract: | Corruption is the great disease of government. It undermines the efficiency of the public sector in many countries around the world. We experimentally study civic engagement (CE) as a constraint on corruption when incentives are stacked against providing CE. We show that CE is powerful in curbing corruption when citizens can encourage each other to provide CE through social approval. Social approval induces strategic complementarity among conditional cooperators which counteracts the strategic substitutability (which tends to limit beneficial effects of CE) built into our design. We also show that civic engagement in the lab is correlated with civic engagement in the field, and that the effects of social approval are surprisingly robust to framing in our setting. |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bro:econwp:2024-003 |
| By: | Lakemann, Tabea; Beber, Bernd; Lay, Jann; Priebe, Jan |
| Abstract: | In many developing countries, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) employ more people than any other type of firm, so identifying ways to raise productivity, improve employment conditions and formalize labor in these settings is of prime policy importance. However, due to the small number of workers per firm and the possibly long results chain linking management to employment, few MSME-targeted interventions and evaluations address job-related outcomes directly. We do so in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) of a support program for MSMEs in Côte d'Ivoire that included financial management and human resources (HR) components. Six and eighteen months after the end of the program, we find muted impacts on business practices, access to finance, and firm performance. On the employment side we find sizeable, positive impacts on job quality, driven by the share of employees receiving at least the minimum wage and the share with written contracts. We find no significant effect on the number of staff. Taken together, our results underscore the difficulty of boosting firm performance and creating jobs with a low-intensity intervention on the one hand, and the feasibility and importance of improvements in employment quality in MSMEs in developing countries on the other. |
| Abstract: | In vielen Entwicklungsländern sind in Kleinst-, Klein- und Mittelunternehmen (KKMU) mehr Menschen beschäftigt als in jeder anderen Art von Unternehmen. Daher ist es von großer politischer Bedeutung, Wege zur Steigerung der Produktivität, zur Verbesserung der Beschäftigungsbedingungen und zur Formalisierung der Arbeit in diesem Umfeld zu finden. Aufgrund der geringen Anzahl von Arbeitnehmenden pro Unternehmen und der möglicherweise langen Zusammenhangskette zwischen Management und Beschäftigung befassen sich jedoch nur wenige auf KKMU ausgerichtete Interventionen und Evaluierungen direkt mit arbeitsplatzbezogenen Indikatoren. Wir leisten hier mit einer randomisierten kontrollierten Studie (RCT) eines Unterstützungsprogramms für KKMU in Côte d'Ivoire, das Komponenten des Finanz- und des Personalmanagements umfasst, einen Beitrag. Sechs und achtzehn Monate nach dem Ende des Programms finden wir eingeschränkte Auswirkungen auf Geschäftspraktiken, Zugang zu Finanzmitteln und Unternehmensleistung. Auf der Beschäftigungsseite finden wir beträchtliche, positive Auswirkungen auf die Qualität der Arbeitsplätze, die durch den Anteil der Beschäftigten, die mindestens den Mindestlohn erhalten, und den Anteil mit schriftlichen Verträgen bestimmt werden. Auf die Anzahl der Mitarbeiter haben wir keine signifikanten Auswirkungen festgestellt. Zusammengenommen unterstreichen unsere Ergebnisse einerseits die Schwierigkeit, die Unternehmensleistung zu steigern und Arbeitsplätze mit einer wenig intensiven Intervention zu schaffen, und andererseits die Machbarkeit und Bedeutung von Verbesserungen der Beschäftigungsqualität in KKMU in Entwicklungsländern. |
| Keywords: | MSME support, employment quality, firm performance, randomized controlled trial, Côte d'Ivoire |
| JEL: | O12 L26 M10 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:306824 |
| By: | Christian A. Vossler (Department of Economics, University of Tennessee); Timothy N. Cason; James J. Murphy; Paul J. Ferraro; Todd L. Cherry; George Loewenstein; Peter Martinsson; Jason F. Shogren; Leaf van Boven; Daan van Soest |
| Abstract: | Motivated by the fact that few academic publications document the links between behavioral experiments and public decision making, this paper compiles and describes many studies that were used to inform environmental policy and natural resource management decisions. These experiments informed or changed the designs of emissions trading programs, recreational fishing regulations, conservation auctions, pro-environmental initiatives directed at households, and regulatory enforcement and compliance schemes, and produced nonmarket demand estimates that informed government regulatory analyses. We highlight the context and conditions that produced these experiment-policy links and discuss how researchers can better engage with the policymaking process and increase the impact of experimental research on policy. |
| JEL: | C9 D04 D47 Q28 Q48 Q51 Q58 |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ten:wpaper:2024-05 |
| By: | Bernardus Van Doornik; Armando Gomes; David Schoenherr; Janis Skrastins |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we present a Savings-and-Credit Contract (SCC) design that mandates a savings period with a default penalty before providing credit. We demonstrate that SCCs mitigate adverse selection and can outperform traditional loan contracts amidst information frictions, thereby expanding access to credit. Empirical evidence from a financial product incorporating an SCC design supports our theory. While appearing riskier on observables, we observe lower realized default rates for product participants than for bank borrowers. Further consistent with the theory, a reform that reduces the default penalty during the savings period induces worse selection and higher realized default rates. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bcb:wpaper:610 |
| By: | Rustagi, Devesh (University of Warwick & CAGE); Schief, Matthias (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)) |
| Abstract: | Does anticipation of discrimination (beliefs individuals hold about the behavior of others towards them) undermine cooperation? We develop a new design to isolate the role of anticipation from confounding motives. Using the trust game, we measure anticipation as the double difference between the amount transferred to outgroup vs. ingroup trustees when the trustor's own identity is revealed vs. concealed. Using the context of affective polarization, we find that anticipation of discrimination undermines cooperation by the same magnitude as taste-based and statistical dis- crimination. However, anticipation of discrimination is misperceived. Our method can be used to study anticipation of discrimination across societal divisions. |
| Keywords: | discrimination, anticipation, misperception, trust game, cooperation dilemma, affective polarization, United Kingdom JEL Classification: C91, C93, J15, D72, Z13 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:738 |