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on Experimental Economics |
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Issue of 2021‒09‒13
27 papers chosen by |
| By: | Loukas Balafoutas (University of Innsbruck, Department of Public Finance); Marco Faravelli (University of Queensland, School of Economics); Roman Sheremeta (Case Western University, Weatherhead School of Management, Department of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We conduct a field experiment on conflict in swimming pools. When all lanes are occupied, an actor joins the least crowded lane and asks one of the swimmers to move to another lane. The lane represents a contested scarce resource. We vary the actor’s valuation (high and low) for the good through the message they deliver. Also, we take advantage of the natural variation in the number of swimmers to proxy for their valuation. Consistent with theoretical predictions, a swimmer’s propensity to engage in conflict increases in scarcity (incentive effect) and decreases in the actor’s valuation (discouragement effect). We complement the results with survey evidence. |
| Keywords: | conflict; conflict resolution; field experiment |
| JEL: | C72 C93 D74 D91 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:chu:wpaper:21-16&r= |
| By: | Knowles, Stephen; Servátka, Maroš; Sullivan, Trudy; Genç, Murat |
| Abstract: | We conduct a field experiment to test the non-monotonic effect of deadline length on task completion. Participants are invited to complete an online survey in which a donation goes to charity. They are given either one week, one month or no deadline to respond. Responses are lowest for the one-month deadline and highest when no deadline is specified. No deadline and the one-week deadline feature a large number of early responses, while providing a one-month deadline appears to give people permission to procrastinate. If they are inattentive, they might forget to complete the task. |
| Keywords: | deadlines; task completion; charitable tasks; charitable giving; inattention; procrastination; forgetting; field experiment |
| JEL: | C9 C93 D03 D64 |
| Date: | 2021–08–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:109501&r= |
| By: | Knowles, Stephen; Servátka, Maroš; Sullivan, Trudy; Genç, Murat |
| Abstract: | We conduct a field experiment to test the non-monotonic effect of deadline length on task completion. Participants are invited to complete an online survey in which a donation goes to charity. They are given either one week, one month or no deadline to respond. Responses are lowest for the one-month deadline and highest when no deadline is specified. No deadline and the one-week deadline feature a large number of early responses, while providing a one-month deadline appears to give people permission to procrastinate. If they are inattentive, they might forget to complete the task. |
| Keywords: | deadlines; task completion; charitable tasks; charitable giving; inattention; procrastination; forgetting; field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D03 D64 |
| Date: | 2021–08–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:109484&r= |
| By: | Boyd, Chris M.; Bellemare, Marc F. |
| Keywords: | Marketing, Agricultural Finance, Institutional and Behavioral Economics |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:312842&r= |
| By: | Kessel, Dany; Mollerstrom, Johanna; van Veldhuizen, Roel |
| Abstract: | As a recent literature has demonstrated, men and women differ in their willingness to sort into competitive environments. In particular, men are more willing than women to compete. We investigate whether it is possible to reduce the gender gap in willingness to compete through an information intervention that informs participants of the gap and advises them about the potential earnings implications. We find that this simple information intervention reduced the gender gap, both in a laboratory study at a German university and in a field study with Swedish high school students. Whereas some participants (primarily high performing women) benefited from the intervention, others lost out. We discuss the implications for efficiency and policy. |
| Keywords: | Gender Differences,Competitiveness,Advice,Experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D91 J16 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbmbh:spii2021202&r= |
| By: | Regine Oexl; Anita Gantner |
| Abstract: | In division problems with entitlements, we investigate whether fairness concerns overrule strategic behavior and inhibit full use of the decision-making power. In a lab experiment where entitlements are derived from costly contributions, we vary bargaining power by using either the majority rule or the dictator rule to find a division allocation. We apply very coarse measures for assessing whether entitlements are respected under both rules. For inexperienced subjects, we find a large number of proposals in which all partners receive positive amounts. With experience, however, over one third of proposers leave at most the crumbs for both partners (dictator) or one of them (majority bargaining). Past individual observations of such 'extreme' outcomes increase the likelihood of own 'extreme' proposals not only under the majority rule, but also under the dictator rule, where no learning of strategic behavior is expected. In heterogeneous groups, where partners bring in different contributions, about 50% of proposals do not reflect an ordinal comparison of the partners' entitlements. Overall, this shows significant limits in people's preferences for fairness. |
| Keywords: | majority bargaining, dictator game, entitlements |
| JEL: | C91 D01 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2021-25&r= |
| By: | Islam, Asad (Monash University); Pakrashi, Debayan (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur); Sahoo, Soubhagya (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur); Wang, Liang Choon (Monash University); Zenou, Yves (Monash University) |
| Abstract: | Using a field experiment in India where patients are randomly assigned to rank among a set of physicians of the same gender but with different castes and years of experience, we show that the differences in patients' physician choices are consistent with gender-based statistical discrimination. Labor market experience cannot easily overcome the discrimination that female doctors suffer. Further, we find that gender discrimination is greater for lower caste doctors, who typically suffer from caste discrimination. Given the increasing share of professionals from a lower caste background, our results suggest that the 'intersectionality' between gender and caste leads to increased gender inequality among professionals in India. |
| Keywords: | gender discrimination, statistical discrimination, caste discrimination, intersectionality, affirmative action |
| JEL: | J16 J15 I15 O12 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14713&r= |
| By: | Silvia Angerer (UMIT ? Private University for Health Sciences, Medical Informatics and Technology); E. Glenn Dutcher (Ohio University); Daniela Glätzle-Rützler (University of Innsbruck); Philipp Lergetporer (Technical University of Munich & ifo Institute at the University of Munich and CESifo); Matthias Sutter (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods Bonn, University of Cologne and IZA Bonn & University of Innsbruck) |
| Abstract: | Large, macroeconomic shocks in the past have been shown to influence economic decisions in the present. We study in an experiment with 743 subjects whether small-scale, seemingly negligible, events also affect the formation of risk preferences. In line with a reinforcement learning model, we find that subjects who won a random lottery took significantly more risk in a second lottery almost a year later. The same pattern emerges in another experiment with 136 subjects where the second lottery was played more than three years after the first lottery. So, small-scale, random, events affect the formation of risk preferences significantly |
| Keywords: | Reinforcement learning, risk preferences, preference formation, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D01 D83 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aiw:wpaper:14&r= |
| By: | Angerer, Silvia (IHS Carinthia); Dutcher, E. Glenn (University of Central Missouri); Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela (University of Innsbruck); Lergetporer, Philipp (Ifo Institute for Economic Research); Sutter, Matthias (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) |
| Abstract: | Large, macroeconomic shocks in the past have been shown to influence economic decisions in the present. We study in an experiment with 743 subjects whether small-scale, seemingly negligible, events also affect the formation of risk preferences. In line with a reinforcement learning model, we find that subjects who won a random lottery took significantly more risk in a second lottery almost a year later. The same pattern emerges in another experiment with 136 subjects where the second lottery was played more than three years after the first lottery. So, small-scale, random, events affect the formation of risk preferences significantly. |
| Keywords: | reinforcement learning, risk preferences, preference formation, experiment |
| JEL: | C91 D01 D83 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14679&r= |
| By: | Beam, Emily A. (University of Vermont); Quimbo, Stella (University of the Philippines, Quezon City) |
| Abstract: | We use a randomized field experiment to test the causal impact of short-term work experience on employment and school enrollment among disadvantaged, in-school youth in the Philippines. This experience leads to a 4.4 percentage point (79-percent) increase in employment 8 to 12 months later. While we find no aggregate increase in enrollment, we also do not find that the employment gains push youth out of school. Our results are most consistent with work experience serving as a signal of unobservable applicant quality, and these findings highlight the role of temporary work as a stepping- stone to employment for low-income youth. |
| Keywords: | short-term employment, work experience, ALMP, experiment |
| JEL: | J24 J08 O15 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14661&r= |
| By: | Püttmann, Vitus (Leibniz University of Hannover); Ruhose, Jens ((CEE) Centre D'Ètudes de L'Emploi); Thomsen, Stephan L. (Leibniz University of Hannover) |
| Abstract: | Academics are increasingly expected to engage in public discussions. We study how engagement conditions affect academics' engagement attitudes via a survey experiment among 4,091 tenured professors in Germany. Consistent with the crowding-out of intrinsic motivation, we find less-positive attitudes when emphasizing public authorities' demands and public expectations regarding science's societal relevance. Effects are particularly strong among professors endorsing science–society relations. Moreover, effects are similar when highlighting risks associated with engagement, but more pronounced for females, and absent when emphasizing public support for academics' engagement. We conclude that considering individual incentive structures and safeguarding against repercussions may promote academics' engagement. |
| Keywords: | science communication, public engagement, professor, survey experiment, intrinsic motivation |
| JEL: | I23 O33 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14668&r= |
| By: | Cherchye, Laurens (KU Leuven); Chiappori, Pierre-André (Columbia University); De Rock, Bram (ECARES, Free University of Brussels); Ringdal, Charlotte (Chr. Michelsen Institute); Vermeulen, Frederic (KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | To understand the household decision-making process regarding food expenditures for children in poor households in Nairobi, we conduct an experiment with 424 married couples. In the experiment, the spouses (individually and jointly) allocated money between themselves and nutritious meals for one of their children. First, we find strong empirical support for individual rationality and cooperative behavior. Second, our results suggest that women do not have stronger preferences for children's meals than men. Third, the spouses' respective bargaining positions derived from consumption patterns strongly correlate with more traditional indicators. Finally, we document significant heterogeneity both between individuals and intra-household decision processes. |
| Keywords: | collective model, intra-household allocation, experiment, Kenya, children |
| JEL: | C14 D13 C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14687&r= |
| By: | Volker Benndorf; Thomas Große Brinkhaus; Ferdinand von Siemens |
| Abstract: | We study strategic interaction in an experimental social-preferences vacuum chamber. We mute social preferences by letting participants knowingly interact with computers. Our new design allows for indirect strategic interaction: there are several waves in which computer players inherit the behavior of human players from the previous wave. We apply our method to investigate trembling-hand perfection in a normal-form version of the ultimatum game. We find that behavior remains far off from a trembling-hand perfect equilibrium under selfish preferences even towards the end of our experiment. The likely reasons for our findings are strategic uncertainty and incomplete learning. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, induced-value theory, learning, ultimatum game, strategic interaction |
| JEL: | C92 C72 D91 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9280&r= |
| By: | Simon Thaler; David Koch |
| Abstract: | Visual representations play a paramount role in real estate sales, and thus valuation, therefore we show pictures of two different apartment conditions to experimental subjects. We investigate in a 2 x 2 experimental design if a furnished apartment (where the furniture is explicitly not included in the purchase price) is valued differently compared to the same apartment without furniture. The test treatment contains pictures of a flat with average furniture (no style elements or costly products). The control treatment depicts the same apartment without furniture (toilet and kitchen line are included). We show the two sets of pictures in different sequences to university student subjects and let them post a value estimate for both groups of apartment pictures. In preliminary research we find evidence that disorder, which should not have an impact on property valuation, has a significant influence on value estimates lowering the mean price estimate by around 13%. Due to the evidence on the influence of disorder, we hypothesise that the presence of furniture increases the attractiveness of the presented flat and therefore has a positive impact on price evaluations. |
| Keywords: | Behavioural Real Estate; Furniture Effect; Image Assessment; Visual Influence |
| JEL: | R3 |
| Date: | 2021–01–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arz:wpaper:eres2021_158&r= |
| By: | Drydakis, Nick (Anglia Ruskin University) |
| Abstract: | The study replicates the first European field experiment on gay men's labor market prospects in Greece. Utilizing the same protocol as the original study in 2006-2007, two follow-up field experiments took place in 2013-2014 and 2018-2019. The study estimated that gay men experienced occupational access constraints and wage sorting in vacancies offering lower remuneration. It was found that in 2013-2014 and 2018-2019, gay men experienced increasingly biased treatment compared to 2006-2007. Moreover, the results suggested that unemployment bore an association with occupational access constraints and wage sorting in vacancies offering lower remuneration for gay men. In each of the three experiments, this study captured recruiters' attitudes toward gay men. A one standard deviation increase in taste-discrimination attitudes against gay men decreased their access to occupations by 9.6%. Furthermore, a one standard deviation increase in statistical-discrimination attitudes against gay men decreased their access to occupations by 8.1%. According to the findings, in 2013-2014 and 2018-2019, firms excluding gay applicants expressed a higher level of taste- and statistical-discrimination attitudes compared to 2006-2007. A gay rights backlash due to the LGBTIQ+ group's attempt to advance its agenda, rising far-right rhetoric, and prejudice associated with economic downturns experienced in Greece might correspond with increasing biases against gay men. |
| Keywords: | field experiment, sexual orientation, hiring discrimination, wage sorting, replication, backlash, unemployment, economic recession |
| JEL: | C93 J7 J16 J31 J42 J64 J71 J83 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14671&r= |
| By: | Fast, Victoria; Sachs, Nikolai; Schnurr, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Consumers often lack information about how online services collect, use and protect their data. Therefore, transparency is frequently touted as an essential instrument to support consumers in assessing privacy risks and making more informed decisions. In this context, empirical studies have investigated the effectiveness of transparency in different privacy contexts. However, whether individuals actually prefer transparency when given a chance to avoid information about privacy risks is less clear. Thus, we investigate how individuals choose between options with more and less transparency about an uncertain data loss. In this paper, we present the design of an online experiment where student subjects choose between a situation of risk, where a loss of personal data will occur with a known probability, and a situation of ambiguity, where a data loss will occur with an unknown probability. Previous experiments on uncertain money losses show that individuals may not universally prefer the more transparent option where information about risks is made explicit. Therefore, our study sheds light on individuals' transparency preferences when facing privacy risks and provides insights into privacy decision-making under uncertainty. Thus, we contribute to a better understanding of digital service providers' incentives to offer consumers more transparency about their data use, which has direct implications for transparency regulation in data-driven digital markets. |
| Keywords: | Privacy,Transparency,Privacy uncertainty,Privacy risks,Ambiguity attitudes,Data losses,Online experiment,GDPR,Digital policy |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb21:238020&r= |
| By: | Lara Ezquerra Guerra (Departamento de Economía de la Empresa, Universidad de las Islas Baleares); Joaquín Gómez Miñambres (Lafayette College & Economic Science Institute, Chapman University); Natalia Jimenez (Department of Economics, Universidad Pablo de Olavide & Middlesex University); Praveen Kujal (Department of Economics, University of Middlesex) |
| Abstract: | The implications of (public or private) pre-play communication and information revelation in a labour relationship is not well understood. We address these implications theoretically and experimentally. In our baseline experiments, the employer offers a wage to the worker who may then accept or reject it. In the public and private treatment, workers, moving first, make a non-binding private or public wage proposal. Our theoretical model assumes that wage proposals convey information about a worker’s minimum acceptable wage and are misreported with a certain probability. It predicts that, on average, wage proposals lead to higher wage offers and acceptance rates, with the highest wages under private proposals. While both, public and private, proposals increase efficiency over the baseline, private proposals generate higher worker incomes. Broad support for the theoretical predictions is found in the laboratory experiments. Our work has important implications for recent policies promoting public information on wage negotiations. We find that while wage proposals promote higher wages, efficiency, and income equality, public information on wage negotiations is likely to benefit firms more than workers. |
| Keywords: | wage negotiations, cheap talk, laboratory experiments, ultimatum game, wage proposals. |
| JEL: | C90 C72 J31 M52 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pab:wpaper:21.12&r= |
| By: | Eduardo Fe; David Gill; Victoria Prowse |
| Abstract: | We investigate how childhood cognitive skills affect strategic sophistication and adult outcomes. In particular, we emphasize the importance of childhood theory-of-mind as a cognitive skill. We collected experimental data from more than seven hundred children in a variety of strategic interactions. First, we find that theory-of-mind ability and cognitive ability both predict level-k behavior. Second, older children respond to information about the cognitive ability of their opponent, which provides support for the emergence of a sophisticated strategic theory-of-mind. Third, theory-of-mind and age strongly predict whether children respond to intentions in a gift-exchange game, while cognitive ability has no influence, suggesting that different measures of cognitive skill correspond to different cognitive processes in strategic situations that involve understanding intentions. Using the ALSPAC birth-cohort study, we find that childhood theory-of-mind and cognitive ability are both associated with enhanced adult social skills, higher educational participation, better educational attainment, and lower fertility in young adulthood. Finally, we provide evidence that school spending improves theory-of-mind in childhood. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:artefa:00737&r= |
| By: | David Rojo Arjona; Stefania Sitzia; Jiwei Zheng |
| Abstract: | Focal points (Schelling, 1960) have shown limitations as coordination devices in games with conflict, such as the battle of the sexes games. We experimentally test whether an increase in their salience can counteract the negative impact of conflict on coordination. The intuition is that, in the presence of conflict, the solution to the coordination dilemma offered by the focal point loses importance. Increasing its salience increases its relevance and therefore coordination success. Our results provide strong support for this conjecture. Furthermore, when games feature outcomes with different degrees of payoffs’ inequality (i.e. the difference of players’ payoffs) and efficiency (i.e. the sum of players’ payoffs), increasing salience does not lead to an obvious increase in coordination, unless the salience of the focal point is maximal. |
| Keywords: | coordination games, focal points, salience, conflict of interests, battle-of-the-sexes, intermixed-blocked effect |
| JEL: | C72 C78 C91 D91 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lan:wpaper:335109305&r= |
| By: | Olivier L'Haridon; Craig S. Webb; Horst Zank |
| Abstract: | In prospect theory (PT) the loss aversion index, lambda, measures the size of the concave kink of the gain-loss utility function at the reference point. A truth-telling mechanism for assessing personal beliefs, the quadratic scoring rule, is extended to measure loss aversion. We control for the bias captured by decision weights in PT and quantify lambda efficiently with only three quadratic scores. In an experiment, we demonstrate these features for risk and extend the tool to ambiguity. We find median values of lambda = 1 at the aggregate level for both sources of uncertainty. Probability and event weighting are less pronounced but accord with earlier findings from the literature. These weights depend on the sign of the corresponding outcomes, which is implication of reference-dependent preferences. Event weighting is also observed at the individual level. After controlling for these weights, we find very few subjects who are loss averse or gain seeking. |
| JEL: | C78 C91 D81 D90 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:man:sespap:2107&r= |
| By: | Albert Scott, Francisco |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/Statistical Methods, Marketing, Agricultural and Food Policy |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea21:312767&r= |
| By: | Sgroi, Daniel (University of Warwick); Yeo, Jonathan (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore); Zhuo, Shi (University of Warwick) |
| Abstract: | Group identity is known to exert a powerful socio-psychological influence on behaviour but to date has been largely explored as a uni-dimensional phenomenon. We consider the role of multiple dimensions of identity, asking what might happen to ingroup and outgroup perceptions and the resulting implications for cooperation. Carefully selecting two politically charged identity dimensions documented to have similar strength and to be largely orthogonal (religious belief and views about government size), we find that priming individuals to consider both dimensions rather than one has a noticeable effect on behaviour. Moving from one to two dimensions can produce a significant increase in ingroup allocations at the expense of fairness to outgroup individuals, although the effect varies as we switch from primarily considering religion to government size. Evidence suggests that the heterogeneity of such effects is related to the degree of "harmony" between groups in the dimensions concerned. |
| Keywords: | group identity, multiple identities, religion, government size, experiment, behavioural economics |
| JEL: | D91 C91 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14714&r= |
| By: | Hermes, Henning (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Lergetporer, Philipp (Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Management & ifo Institute Munich); Peter, Frauke (German Centre for Higher Education Research and Science Studies (DZHW) & DIW Berlin); Wiederhold, Simon (KU Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Ingolstadt School of Management & ifo Institute Munich) |
| Abstract: | Children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to benefit more from early child care, but are substantially less likely to be enrolled. We study whether reducing behavioral barriers in the application process increases enrollment in child care for lower-SES children. In our RCT in Germany with highly subsidized child care (n > 600), treated families receive application information and personal assistance for applications. For lower-SES families, the treatment increases child care application rates by 21 pp and enrollment rates by 16 pp. Higher-SES families are not affected by the treatment. Thus, alleviating behavioral barriers closes half of the SES gap in early child care enrollment. |
| Keywords: | child care; early childhood; behavioral barriers; information; educational inequality; randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | C93 I21 J13 J18 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2021_016&r= |
| By: | Henning Hermes; Philipp Lergetporer; Frauke Peter; Simon Wiederhold |
| Abstract: | Children with lower socioeconomic status (SES) tend to benefit more from early child care, but are substantially less likely to be enrolled. We study whether reducing behavioral barriers in the application process increases enrollment in child care for lower-SES children. In our RCT in Germany with highly subsidized child care (n > 600), treated families receive application information and personal assistance for applications. For lower-SES families, the treatment increases child care application rates by 21 pp and enrollment rates by 16 pp. Higher-SES families are not affected by the treatment. Thus, alleviating behavioral barriers closes half of the SES gap in early child care enrollment. |
| Keywords: | child care, early childhood, behavioral barriers, information, educational inequality, randomized controlled trial |
| JEL: | I21 J13 J18 J24 C93 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9282&r= |
| By: | Duarte-Anselmi, Giuliano (Universidad de Santiago de Chile); Ortiz-Muñoz, Luis E.; Figueroa, Oriana; Laroze, Denise (Universidad de Santiago de Chile) |
| Abstract: | This project offers a series of subprojects aimed at improving and strengthening public health through the design, implementation and evaluation of new and innovative evidence-based interventions in relation to: decision-making in health, sustainable development, planetary health, change of the behavior and digital interventions. It also includes experimental studies on decision architecture, behavior design, technological persuasion, theories of behavior change and "nudge" associated with prevention and promotion of global health. |
| Date: | 2021–08–28 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:m7sp8&r= |
| By: | Carlos Alós-Ferrer; Johannes Buckenmaier |
| Abstract: | Democratic societies have been increasingly confronted with extreme, knife-edge election outcomes that affect everybody’s lives and contribute to social instability. Even if political compromises based on social conventions as equity or economic arguments as efficiency are available, polarized societies might fail to select them. We demonstrate that part of the problem might be purely technical and, hence, potentially solvable. We study different voting methods in three experiments (total N = 5, 820), including small, medium-sized, and large electorates, and find that currently-used methods (Plurality Voting and Rank-Order systems) can lead voters to overwhelmingly support egoistic options. In contrast, alternative, more nuanced methods (Approval Voting and Borda Count) reduce the support for egoistic options and favor equity and efficiency, avoiding extreme outcomes. Those methods differ in whether they favor equity or efficiency when the latter benefits a majority. Our evidence suggests that targeted changes in the electoral system could favor socially-desirable compromises and increase social stability. |
| Keywords: | Polarization, social compromises, equity, efficiency, voting methods |
| JEL: | C91 C92 D63 D70 D71 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zur:econwp:394&r= |
| By: | Ajzenman, Nicolas (São Paulo School of Economics-FGV); Elacqua, Gregory (Inter-American Development Bank); Marotta, Luana (Inter-American Development Bank); Olsen, Anne Sofie (Novo Nordisk) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we show that order effects operate in the context of high-stakes, real-world decisions: employment choices. We experimentally evaluate a nationwide program in Ecuador that changed the order of teaching vacancies on a job application platform in order to reduce teacher sorting (that is, lower-income students are more likely to attend schools with less qualified teachers). In the treatment arm, the platformshowed hard-tostaff schools (institutions typically located in more vulnerable areas that normally have greater difficulty attracting teachers) first, while in the control group teaching vacancies were displayed in alphabetical order. In both arms, hard-to-staff schools were labeled with an icon and identical information was given to teachers. We find that a teacher in the treatment arm was more likely to apply to hard-to-staff schools, to rank them as their highest priority, and to be assigned to a job vacancy in one of these schools. The effects were not driven by inattentive, altruistic, or less-qualified teachers. Instead, choice overload and fatigue seem to have played a role. The program has thus helped to reduce the unequal distribution of qualified teachers across schools of different socioeconomic backgrounds. |
| Keywords: | order effects, teacher sorting, satisficing |
| JEL: | I24 D91 I25 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp14690&r= |