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on Neuroeconomics |
| 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: | Lin, Zhuoer; Wang, Yi; Gill, Thomas M.; Chen, Xi |
| Abstract: | Disparities in cognition persist between non-Hispanic Black (hereafter, Black) and non-Hispanic White (hereafter, White) older adults, and are possibly influenced by early educational differences stemming from structural racism. However, the relationship between school racial segregation and later-life cognition remains underexplored. We examined a nationally sample of older Americans from the Health and Retirement Study. Utilizing childhood residence data and cognitive assessment data (1995-2018) for Black and White participants aged 65 and older, Black-White dissimilarity index for public elementary schools measuring school segregation, multilevel analyses revealed a significant negative association between school segregation and later-life cognitive outcomes among Black participants, but not among White participants. Potential mediators across the life course, including educational attainment, explained 58-73% of the association, yet the associations remained large and significant among Black participants for all outcomes. Given the rising trend of school segregation in the US, educational policies aimed at reducing segregation are crucial to address health inequities. Clinicians can leverage patients' early-life educational circumstances to promote screening, prevention, and management of cognitive disorders. |
| Keywords: | early-life circumstances, school segregation, quality of education, racial disparity, cognition, dementia, health equity |
| JEL: | I14 I24 I10 J14 J15 H75 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1527 |
| By: | Bagues, Manuel (University of Warwick); Villa, Carmen (University of Warwick and Institute for Fiscal Studies) |
| Abstract: | Over the past decades, many European countries have raised the minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) from 16 to 18 years. This study provides novel evidence of the impact of this policy on educational outcomes by exploiting the staggered timing of MLDA changes across Spanish regions. Raising the MLDA decreased alcohol consumption among adolescents aged 14–17 by 8 to 18% and improved their exam performance by 4% of a standard deviation. This effect appears driven by alcohol’s direct impact on cognitive ability, as we find no significant changes in potential mediators like use of other substances or time spent on leisure activities, including socialising, sports, gaming, or internet use. We also observe a decrease in tranquilliser and sleeping pill use, suggesting improved mental health. Our findings indicate that reducing teenage alcohol consumption represents a significant opportunity to improve educational outcomes in Europe, where youth drinking rates remain notably high. |
| Keywords: | alcohol ; adolescence ; minimum legal drinking age ; PISA JEL Codes: I18 ; I12 ; I21 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1529 |
| By: | YUDA Michio |
| Abstract: | An unexpected mega natural disaster that dramatically changes the living environment disrupts educational opportunities for school-aged children, which has a significant negative effect on the cognitive and non-cognitive skills and educational achievement necessary for human capital development. However, little attention has been paid to the impact on their physical health of the reduction in physical activity opportunities that are simultaneous side-effects of the disaster. Given the positive correlation between academic and athletic performance, the educational returns from the negative shocks resulting from a mega disaster may have been underestimated. This study uses individual data including detailed athletic ability from government statistics to estimate the impact of a local mega natural disaster on the development and athletic performance among school-aged children. Using a difference-in-differences approach, the results show that the disaster has little overall effect on children’s development but significantly increases their bodyweight and obesity in the specific areas where more stricter restrictions on outdoor activity were imposed. These effects persist even after terminating the severe restrictions. I also find that the disaster has significantly negative average treatment effects on athletic performance, but that such effects are temporary, with limited long-term effects. Moreover, the negative effects on physical health capital accumulation are consistent with the literature on the fetal origin hypothesis and on early health shocks in the life course. This evidence strongly suggests that athletic performance during school age would be an important confounder in the causal inference models on educational achievement and its return for future socioeconomic outcomes. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:24031 |
| By: | Xi Lin |
| Abstract: | This study examines how childhood residential location affects cognitive skills, focusing on the roles of neighborhood and primary school quality in shaping children’s school performance. Using administrative data from the Netherlands, I estimate the causal effect of neighborhood exposure—defined as the impact of time spent in a neighborhood—on children’s test scores at the end of their primary education. By comparing children who move at different ages, I separate the effects of exposure from those of sorting into neighborhoods. The results show that for each additional year a child spends in a neighborhood with higher expected test scores, their test scores improve by approximately 2.5% relative to the total gap between the lower- and higher-performing neighborhoods. As families can choose primary schools without geographical restrictions in the Netherlands, I can further isolate improvements attributable to school quality. Approximately 40% of the observed improvements in test scores can be explained by differences in primary school quality. These findings highlight the critical roles of neighborhood environments and school quality in reducing spatial educational inequalities. |
| Keywords: | Neighborhood Effects, Mover Design, Intergenerational Mobility |
| JEL: | I24 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bon:boncrc:crctr224_2025_618 |
| By: | Hollenbach, Johannes; Schmitz, Hendrik; Westphal, Matthias |
| Abstract: | We show that two-stage least squares (2SLS) estimates of interactions can be misleading in settings with essential heterogeneity (e.g., selection into gains) and where complier status to the instrument depends on the interaction variable. The 2SLS estimator cannot disentangle interaction effects from shifts in complier groups. Estimating marginal treatment effects addresses this problem by fixing the underlying population and unobserved heterogeneity. We illustrate this using the example of gene-environment studies, where the central parameter is the interaction effect between an endogenous, instrumented measure of environment or behavior and a predetermined measure of genetic endowment. Our application examines the effect of education on cognitive performance in old age. The results show complementarities between education and genetic predisposition in determining cognitive abilities. The marginal treatment effect estimates reveal a substantially larger gene-environment interaction, exceeding the 2SLS estimate by a factor of at least 2.5. |
| Abstract: | Wir zeigen, dass die zweistufige Kleinste-Quadrate-Methode (2SLS) unter bestimmten Bedingungen keine zuverlässige Schätzung von Interaktionstermen liefert, selbst wenn starke und valide Instrumente verwendet werden. Dieses Problem tritt dann auf, wenn unbeobachtete Heterogenität der Interaktionsvariable sowohl das Treatment als auch dessen Effekt auf das Outcome beeinflusst. In diesem Fall kann der 2SLS-Schätzer nicht zwischen beiden Arten von Heterogenität differenzieren, was aber für die beabsichtigte Interpretation des Interaktionseffektes als reiner Einfluss der Interaktionsvariable auf den kausalen Effekt des Treatments essenziell ist. Wir zeigen, dass die Schätzung marginaler Treatmenteffekte dieses Problem lösen kann, und illustrieren dies am Beispiel von Gen-Umgebung-Interaktionsstudien. Der zentrale Parameter in diesen Studien ist der Interaktionseffekt zwischen einem endogenen, instrumentierten Maß für die Umgebung (oder Entscheidungen in dieser) und genetischer Prädisposition. In unserer Anwendung untersuchen wir den Effekt von Bildung auf die kognitive Leistungsfähigkeit im Alter. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der Bildungseffekt auf kognitive Fähigkeiten größer ist, je vorteilhafter die genetische Veranlagung. Während eine 2SLS-Schätzung nur schwache, statistisch nicht signifikante Effektunterschiede nahelegt, zeigen die auf marginalen Treatmenteffekten basierenden Schätzwerte, dass genetische Veranlagung einen relevanten und statistisch signifikanten Einfluss auf den Bildungseffekt hat: Dieser übersteigt den Interaktionsparameter der 2SLS-Schätzung mindestens um den Faktor 2, 5. |
| Keywords: | Two-stage least squares estimation, marginal treatment effects, gene-environment interactions, cognitive decline |
| JEL: | C31 J14 J24 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:306835 |