Publications
A single-project meta-analysis of multiple threshold public goods games
by Luca Corazzini and Matteo M. Marini
in Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/esa.2024.4
Abstract:
This paper is a single-project meta-analysis of four experiments that model charitable giving as individual contributions to a multiplicity of competing threshold public goods. We pool 17,136 observations at the individual level to summarize the project and investigate the role of learning, gender, and risk attitude, since the included studies are inconclusive in this regard. We find that equally effective coordination devices are the existence of a single contribution option that stands out on its merits, learning, and delegation as long as the intermediary is formally obliged to pass along a high enough percentage of the transferred resources. Women delegate less than men, and consequently prefer direct contributions. Risk tolerance increases overall donations but decreases individual earnings. We discuss possible implications of our findings.
Bidding on Price and Quality: An Experiment on the Complexity of Scoring Rule Auctions
by Riccardo Camboni, Luca Corazzini, Stefano Galavotti and Paola Valbonesi
in The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01288
Abstract:
We experimentally study procurement auctions when both quality and price matter. We compare two treatments where sellers compete on one dimension only (price or quality), with three treatments where sellers submit a price-quality bid and the winner is determined by a scoring rule that combines the two offers. We find that, in the scoring rule treatments, efficiency and buyer’s utility are lower than predicted. Estimates from a Quantal Response Equilibrium model suggest that increasing the dimension of the strategy space imposes a complexity burden on sellers, so that a simpler mechanism like a quality-only auction may be preferable.
by Tomáš Kratochvíl, Michaela Šaradín Lebedíková, Martin Vaculík, Jakub Procházka and Andreas Lieberoth
in Learning and Individual Differences, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2025.102708
Abstract:
Leaderboards are commonly used in gamification to enhance performance outcomes. While their impact on quantitative performance is well-established, their effects on other performance indicators and moderators remain underexplored. We replicated and extended Landers et al.'s (2017) study of the gamified goal-setting effect on task performance to examine the effect on quantitative (e.g., task speed), qualitative (e.g., accuracy), and self-reported performance across two studies using 12-minute tasks. While leaderboards improved quantitative performance, qualitative performance remained unaffected. Moreover, leaderboards led to higher and more accurate self-reported performance than an impossible goal and lower and more accurate than an easy goal. This effect was more pronounced among experienced learners. This suggests that leaderboards balance the advantages of simple and challenging goals, making them particularly effective for experienced learners compared to traditional goal setting. Future gamification research should focus on self-assessment as it may shape future objective performance.
Lengthy waiting corrupts, especially when unexpected
by Linda Dezső, Gergely Hajdu and Yossef Tobol
in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106939
Abstract:
Results of two studies demonstrate that long and unexpected waits adversely shape moral behavior. In Study 1, passengers who had just joined the check-in line at Ben Gurion Airport guessed how long they would have to wait to check in, and then their actual wait duration was recorded. After checking in, they privately rolled a die, reported an outcome while knowing that higher reports yield higher earnings. We found that wait duration is positively associated with lying. Study 2 (laboratory experiment) exogenized the duration of waits (long versus short) and whether those durations were known (expected) or unknown (unexpected) to subjects in advance. We find that long waits cause, on average, more lying than short waits, and that average lying is the highest for long and unexpected waits. We propose that after long and unexpected waits, people may seek compensation in the monetary domain via relaxed morals.
Money burning is driven by reciprocity rather than spite
by Rostislav Staněk, Ondřej Krčál and Katarína Čellárová
in Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/esa.2025.1
Abstract:
The money-burning game (MBG) is widely used to study anti-social or destructive behavior. We extend the design of the MBG to separate three motives that could lead subjects to burn their partner’s money – spite, reciprocity, and inequality aversion. We detect that reciprocity is the dominant reason: Most of our subjects would only burn their partner’s money if they believed that their partner would burn theirs. This finding has important implications for the interpretation of the behavior of the game.
The hidden costs of imposing minimum contributions to a global public good
by Diya Abraham, Katarína Glejtková and Ondřej Krčál
in Ecological Economics, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108346
Abstract:
We study how different types of individuals respond to being forced to make a minimum contribution to a global public good. Participants in our experiment decide how much of their endowment to contribute towards offsetting CO2 emissions. We elicit their contributions when they are free to spend any amount of their endowment on carbon offsets and when they are forced to spend a certain minimum amount on it. We find that those who contribute more than the minimum before it is imposed contribute less overall once the minimum comes into effect. This is true for both a low and a high level of the minimum and appears to be driven in part by pessimistic beliefs about the contributions of others. We show that the lower minimum also reduces overall contributions relative to a situation with no minimum. We do not find evidence that having the level of the minimum determined through a majority vote rather than an exogenous procedure has any material impact on these results.
Catastrophic health expenditure during healthcare financing reform: Evidence from Kazakhstan
by Aigerim Sarsenbayeva and Dinara Alpysbayeva
in Social Science & Medicine, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117824
Abstract:
Unequal access to healthcare and inadequate financing have highlighted the need for healthcare reform to increase efficiency while ensuring equity in healthcare financing worldwide. Our study evaluates the capacity of Kazakhstan’s healthcare system reform, transitioning from a tax-financed system to compulsory social health insurance (CSHI), to address equity in healthcare financing. Using quarterly Household Budget Surveys from 2017-Q1 to 2020-Q4 in a staggered difference-in-difference estimation technique, we analyze the impact of the transition on the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and impoverishment. Our findings show that while the transition from a tax-financed to a CSHI system in the short run lowers both the incidence and intensity of catastrophic health expenditure, it does not alleviate impoverishment. In particular, the reform predominantly benefits wealthier households, with no effect on the relatively poor population. We speculate that the positive outcomes observed from the reform in the short run are largely attributed to the exceptionally high insurance coverage during the transition period. The success of the transition from a tax-based to an insurance-based system is heavily dependent on the rate of insurance coverage of the population, as well as the quality of healthcare services and available finances.
by Claudia Souček, Tommaso Reggiani and Nadja Kairies-Schwarz
in Health Policy, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthpol.2025.105302
Abstract:
Background: In hospitals, decisions are often made under time pressure. There is, however, little evidence on how time pressure affects the quality of treatment and the documentation behaviour of physicians.
Setting: We implemented a controlled laboratory experiment with a healthcare framing in which international medical students in the Czech Republic treated patients in the role of hospital physicians. We varied the presence of time pressure and a documentation task.
Results: We observed worse treatment quality when individuals were faced with a combination of a documentation task and time pressure. In line with the concept of the speed-accuracy trade-off, we showed that quality changes are likely driven by less accuracy. Finally, we showed that while documentation quality was relatively high overall, time pressure significantly lowered the latter leading to a higher hypothetical profit loss for the hospital.
Conclusions: Our results suggest that policy reforms aimed at increasing staffing and promoting novel technologies that facilitate physicians’ treatment decisions and support their documentation work in the hospital sector might be promising means of improving the treatment quality and reducing inefficiencies potentially caused by documentation errors.
The spillover effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: labor response in a neighboring economy
by Dinara Alpysbayeva, Dana Bazarkulova and Galiya Sagyndykova
in Post-Soviet Affairs, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1060586X.2025.2515808
Abstract:
This paper examines the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on employment in Kazakhstan due to an influx of migrants. Using a Synthetic Control Method (SCM), our study reveals a varying effect on Kazakhstan’s employment following the invasion. We find a notable effect on employment in treated cities with regional variation. We also find the heterogeneous impact of forced migration across different demographic characteristics and report that young males and males with vocational education are the most vulnerable group, which aligns with expectations based on the nature of the shock and the aggregate composition of migrant flows. Our findings highlight that ongoing uncertainty and evolving geopolitics can have lasting consequences on Kazakhstan’s labor market. This research contributes to the understanding of labor market effects in emerging economies amidst (semi-)forced migration. The historical, cultural, and economic ties between Russia and Kazakhstan, coupled with their shared membership in the Eurasian Economic Union, present a distinctive context. Our research highlights the necessity of ongoing monitoring and adaptive strategies to mitigate the long-term impacts.
by Steven Saxonberg, Tomáš Sirovátka and Martin Guzi
in Social Policy and Society, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746424000010
Abstract:
In recent decades, populist parties and leaders have obtained great political success. Since populism plays on voter dissatisfaction with the political elite, we might expect that dissatisfaction with the welfare state should also play a role. In this study, we suggest measures to assess welfare state performance (WSP), and we examine how assessment of WSP helps to explain support for the populist political parties – both rightwing and leftwing. Our findings are based on the sixth round of European Social Survey data that has a special module on democracy, which includes questions that enables us to measure WSP. This article shows that WSP is a significant predictor in explaining support for populist parties, but the dynamics differ between how WSP influences support for leftwing populist (LWP) and rightwing populist (RWP) parties.
by Magdalena Adamus, Eva Ballová Mikušková, Pavol Kačmár, Martin Guzi, Matuš Adamkovič, Maria Chayinska and Jais Adam-Troian
in British Journal of Social Psychology, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12725
Abstract:
The paper reports the results of registered conceptual replications of the indirect effect of institutional trust in the relationship between precarity and the endorsement of conspiracy beliefs (CB). The original study of Adam-Troian et al. (2023; British Journal of Social Psychology, 62(S1), 136-159) indicated that subjective appraisals of economic hardship are associated with lower trust in governments and institutions, which in turn is associated with stronger endorsement of CB. Our Studies 1 to 3 report a series of replications using Slovak panel data. Study 4 reports a replication of the mediation model using data from the European Social Survey Round 10 collected in 17 countries. To provide a quantitative synthesis of these and previous results, we conducted mini meta-analysis (N = 50,340). Although the strength of the observed relationships differed across the studies to some degree, the original patterns of relations remained robust, supporting the original model. The study corroborates the view that to curb the spread of CB, it is necessary to address structural issues, such as growing financial insecurity, socioeconomic inequalities, and the deficit of institutional trust. Finally, we discuss the role of cultural and political settings in conditioning the mechanisms through which precarity enhances the endorsement of CB.
by Luca Fumarco, Benjamin J. Harrell, Patrick Button, David J. Schwegman and E Dils
in American Journal of Health Economics, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/728931
Abstract:
Transgender people, African Americans, and Hispanics face mental health disparities. While mental health care can help, minoritized groups could face discriminatory barriers in accessing it. Discrimination may be particularly pronounced in mental health care because providers have more discretion over accepting patients. Research documents discrimination broadly, including in access to health care, but there is limited empirical research on discrimination in access to mental health care. We provide the first experimental evidence, from a correspondence audit field experiment (“simulated patients” study), of the extent to which transgender and non-binary people, African Americans, and Hispanics face discrimination in access to mental health-care appointments. We find significant discrimination against transgender or non-binary African Americans and Hispanics. We do not find evidence of discrimination against White transgender and non-binary prospective patients. We are mostly inconclusive as to whether cisgender African Americans or Hispanics face discrimination, except we find evidence of discrimination against cisgender African American women.
The value of time in a repeated and one-off setup
by Renata Kosíková, Ondřej Krčál and Stefanie Peer
in Research in Transportation Economics, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.retrec.2024.101408
Abstract:
Some recent studies have highlighted the importance of considering the temporal context as a potential factor influencing time valuation estimates. However, in studies that compare shorter and longer-run choice settings, various elements tend to differ between the two settings, rendering it difficult to infer what drives short- and long-run estimates apart. This paper focuses on the comparison between time valuations associated with one-off vs. repeated events. We present the results of a lab experiment on the valuation of waiting time, which has been carefully designed such that the only element varying between the two treatments is whether the choice has a repetitive character or concerns a one-off event. We find no significant differences between the two treatments, and hence can conclude that the repetitive character of a choice situation is unlikely to drive differences between short- and long-run estimates, at least if the concerned travel or waiting times are relatively short (<10 min).
Mind the framing when studying social preferences in the domain of losses
by Armenak Antinyan, Luca Corazzini, Miloš Fišar and Tommaso Reggiani
in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2023.12.024
Abstract:
There is no consensus in whether monetary losses make individuals more generous or selfish. Utilizing a dictator game (DG), we study the impact of loss framing on altruism and find that dictators’ altruism is sensitive to the loss frame they are embedded in. In a DG in which the dictators share a loss between themselves and a recipient, the monetary allocations are more benevolent than in a setting without a loss and in a DG in which the dictators share what remains of their endowments after a loss. These differences are explained by the social norms the loss frames invoke.
by Tereza Šimková, Michal Ďuriník and Jakub Procházka
in SAGE Open, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440241274831
Abstract:
Processing fluency of stimuli has been shown to impact consumers’ decision-making. We investigate whether inhibiting the processing fluency of an anchor results in a more pronounced anchoring effect, as is proposed in the existing literature. We use a point-of-purchase field experiment to test the hypothesis that a disfluent anchor in a product name influences consumers’ willingness to pay for this product more than a fluent anchor. The results provide strong support against the fluency—willingness to pay relationship. Contrary to theoretical predictions, our study cautions marketing practitioners against the use of low-fluency anchors in product names.
Revisiting a Global Burnout Score With the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT) Across Nine Country Samples
by Leon T. De Beer, Wilmar B. Schaufeli, Hans De Witte, Jari J. Hakanen, Janne Kaltiainen, Jürgen Glaser, Christian Seubert, Akihito Shimazu, Janine Bosak, Jakub Procházka, Aleš Kajzar and Marit Christensen
in European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000839
Abstract:
Studies published on the validity of the Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), a novel burnout instrument, have gained traction in the literature over recent years. The BAT has been successfully shown to be equivalent across representative samples when modeled as a second-order/higher-order model. However, this specification is not free of criticism and the bifactor approach has been presented as the alternative model specification. Therefore, a study investigating the construct-relevant multidimensionality of the BAT across many representative samples is warranted to reassess a global burnout factor (n = 9,041). We implemented bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling to ascertain the relevance of a global burnout factor and specific component factors (bifactor-ESEM). According to the standardized loadings and McDonald’s ω coefficients, the results showed that the bifactor-ESEM model had a strong global burnout factor with relevant specific factors beyond the global factor. The model also showed measurement invariance across countries and genders. We also present a figure that compares the global burnout mean scores of the countries. All in all, the results of this study reaffirmed that BAT-assessed burnout can be modeled with an equivalent global burnout score across conditions.
by Stefano Clò, Tommaso Reggiani and Sabrina Ruberto
in Environmental & Resource Economics, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10640-024-00884-9
Abstract:
This paper investigates whether informative feedback on consumption can nudge water saving. We launched a five-month online information campaign which involved around 1,000 households located in the province of Milan (Italy) with a smart meter. A group of households received monthly reports via email on their per capita daily average water consumption, including a social comparison component. The Intention to Treat (ITT) analysis shows that, compared to a benchmark group, the units exposed to the intervention reduced their per capita water consumption by around 6% (25.8 liters per day or 6.8 gallons). Being able to observe the email opening rate, we find that the ITT effect is mainly driven by complying units. Through an Instrumental Variable approach, we estimated a Local Average Treatment Effect equal to 54.9 liters per day of water saving. A further Regression Discontinuity Design analysis shows that different feedback on consumption class size differentially affected water saving at the margin. We also found that the additional water saving increased with the number of monthly reports, though it did not persist two months after the campaign expired.
Coordinated selection of collective action: Wealthy-interest bias and inequality
by Luca Corazzini, Christopher S. Cotton, Enrico Longo and Tommaso Reggiani
in Journal of Public Economics, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2024.105172
Abstract:
We extend a collective action problem to study policy and project selection by heterogeneous groups who prefer to work together on a joint initiative but may disagree on which initiative is best. Our framework, adapted from a model of multiple threshold public goods, presents groups with several mutually exclusive projects, any of which require sufficient support from the group to succeed. Individuals strictly prefer to contribute where and how much they believe others expect of them to ensure joint project success. Groups tend to coordinate on the public good preferred by the wealthiest member, demonstrating a wealthy-interest bias even without corruption, politics, and information asymmetries. At the same time, groups divide costs in highly progressive ways, with the wealthy voluntarily funding a disproportionate share, helping offset the inherent inequality from endowment and selection differences. We discuss applications for policy selection, charitable giving, and taxes.
by Ludmila Dudášová, Jakub Procházka and Martin Vaculík
in Current Psychology, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05841-9
Abstract:
Psychological capital (PsyCap) has gained prominence as an important resource for positive work attitudes, behaviors, and organizational outcomes. This pre-registered study aims to broaden existing understanding of the relationship between PsyCap and positive attitudes and behaviors using longitudinal evidence. A sample of 202 teachers (M = 45.33 years, SD = 10.76) completed a set of online questionnaires in two measurement waves, two years apart. Using structural equation modelling with a pre-registered syntax, we found support for PsyCap as a mediator of the effects of perceived social support on changes in work engagement and life satisfaction within the two-year period. Perceived social support predicted the level of PsyCap measured two years later. A higher level of PsyCap was positively associated with changes in work engagement and life satisfaction between the two measurement waves. As the first data collection took place in the spring of 2019 and the second in the spring of 2021, the results also highlight the role of social support and PsyCap in dealing with demands related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
by Luca Fumarco, Neil Longley, Alberto Palermo and Giambattista Rossi
in Oxford Economic Papers, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oep/gpae010
Abstract:
We follow workers’ performance along an unbalanced panel dataset over multiple years and study how performance varies at the end of fixed-term contracts, in a labour market where some people face a mobility-restricting clause (i.e. a noncompete clause). Focusing on the labour market of the National Hockey League, we analyse players’ performance data and contracts with a fixed-effects estimator to address empirical limitations in previous studies. We find that, on average, National Hockey League players’ performance does not vary. However, our estimations detect substantially heterogeneous behaviours, depending on tenure, perceived expected performance, and mobility. Only younger players (i.e. restricted free agents) with high expected mobility but low expected performance tend to behave strategically and perform better. Differently, older players (i.e. unrestricted free agents) with high expected mobility tend to underperform, as the option of moving back to European tournaments is more appealing.
Misreporting in the Norwegian business cash support scheme
by Dinara Alpysbayeva, Annette Alstadsæter, Wojciech Kopczuk, Simen Markussen and Oddbjørn Raaum
in International Tax and Public Finance, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10797-024-09857-6
Abstract:
We analyze the reporting response to an ambitiously targeted government support scheme for Norwegian businesses at the very start of the Coronavirus crisis in 2020. Our empirical design is based on cross-checking self-reported data in the applications for support with administratively reported data used for VAT. We find strong evidence that strategic misreporting was present but conclude that its remaining quantitative extent after enforcement actions already taken by the tax authorities was relatively small. Firms tend to misreport 4% more often than expected, and the actual support paid out was 5% higher than it should have been. We discuss possible reasons for the relatively limited extent of non-compliance and more general lessons for the design of transfer programs.
Contest and resource allocation: An experimental analysis of entitlement and self-selection effects
by Katarína Čellárová and Rostislav Staněk
in European Journal of Political Economy, 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpoleco.2024.102526
Abstract:
Leaders who decide the allocation of resources are often chosen through contests. Due to imperfect monitoring, they often decide to allocate resources to themselves at the expense of others. This paper investigates how being selected in a contest affects such allocation through two channels: entitlement and self-selection effects. In our experiment, two players compete for the right to allocate resources between themself and a third, uninvolved player. We identify the entitlement effect by comparing the choices of participants who participated in the contest with those who were chosen randomly. Self-selection effect is identified by comparing the choices of winners and losers between treatments via a difference-in-difference approach. We find a significant effect of entitlement; people participating in the contest transfer fewer resources to the third player compared to those who did not participate. Further, we find no evidence that the people with specific distributional preferences self-select into the leaders’ role. Our findings suggest that the primary reason leaders allocate resources to themselves is their involvement in the contest rather than being a result of self-selection.
Does homeownership hinder labor market activity? Evidence from housing privatization and restitution
by Štěpán Mikula and Josef Montag
in Journal of Housing Economics, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhe.2023.101949
Abstract:
We study whether homeownership hinders labor force participation and increases unemployment. Using a unique dataset from the city of Brno, Czech Republic, we exploit housing reforms that followed the Velvet Revolution, and the subsequent fall of communism, as a source of exogenous assignment of homeownership. Across several estimation approaches, we do not find any evidence of homeownership hindering labor market activity. The estimated effects on labor force participation are around zero and our estimates for unemployment suggest that homeownership reduces it by four to six percentage points. Homeownership thus appears to benefit labor market performance.
by Štěpán Mikula and Peter Molnár
in Journal of Transport Geography, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103649
Abstract:
This paper studies the impact of expected transport accessibility improvement on house prices. We identify the effect exploiting a quasi-natural experiment created by the approval and construction of the Ryfast tunnel system in Rogaland, Norway, which shortened the traveling time to the affected municipality from 62 to 24 min. Estimates of a repeated sales model in a difference-in-differences framework show that the expectation of improvement in transport accessibility connected with the construction of the tunnel system led to an increase in house prices by 12.8% on average. That effect grew as the opening of the tunnel drew closer and was driven by less valuable houses.
by Lucie Coufalová, Štěpán Mikula and Libor Žídek
in Accounting History, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/10323732221109652
Abstract:
Communist economies of the former Eastern Bloc were driven by systems of central planning. The central plan set detailed goals to be achieved by the state-owned enterprises, which often struggled to meet them and obtain bonuses or avoid the related sanctions. In line with the principal-agent theory, we study the behaviour of managers of the Czechoslovak state-owned enterprises in this specific environment and investigate the possibility of using creative accounting methods and other methods to cover failures in meeting those plans. Statistical analysis based on accounting records from the 1970s and 1980s recovered from state archives indicates that meeting the central plans targets was often achieved through false reporting. This conclusion is further supported by two series of 75 and 80 interviews with former managers of socialist state-owned enterprises. We expect our findings to hold for other centrally planned economies, as managers’ original motivations were distorted by features which were inherent to the centrally planned system itself.
Homophily in voting behavior: Evidence from preferential voting
by Lucie Coufalová, Štěpán Mikula and Michal Ševčík
in Kyklos, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/kykl.12328
Abstract:
Homophily—the preference for people similar in their characteristics—is a strong determinant of many types of human relationships. It affects, for example, whom we marry and potentially also whom we vote for. We use data on preferential voting from eight (1996–2021) Czech parliamentary elections matched with census and administrative data to identify the effect of homophily on voting behavior. The Czech system of preferential voting is well suited to an analysis of homophilic preferences, as it enables us to filter out preferences for political parties and focus solely on candidates' individual background characteristics. We identify the effect of homophily on a sample of 6,844,538 observations from small municipalities that are not likely to be affected by potential electoral list optimization. We find that a 1 % increase in the share of a municipality's population whose education level or age are the same as the candidate's increases the number of preferential votes the given candidate receives by 0.5% or 0.2% respectively. We also find evidence for strong geographical homophily as living in the municipality substantially increases the number of preferential votes a candidate receives.
The impact of immigration and integration policies on immigrant-native labour market hierarchies
by Martin Guzi, Martin Kahanec and Lucia Mýtna Kureková
in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2023.2207339
Abstract:
Across European Union (EU) labour markets, immigrant and native populations exhibit disparate labour market outcomes, signifying widespread labour market hierarchies. Despite the considerable investment in migration and integration policies, it remains unclear whether these contribute to or alleviate labour market hierarchies between natives and immigrants. Using a longitudinal model based on individual-level EU LFS and country-level DEMIG POLICY and POLMIG databases, we explore variation in changes of immigration and integration policies across Western EU member states to study how they are linked to labour market hierarchies in terms of unemployment and employment quality gaps between immigrant and native populations. Our findings suggest that designing less restrictive immigration and integration policies could aid in reducing existing labour market disadvantages for immigrants, enabling them to realise their full potential and reduce the immigrant-native labour market hierarchies.
Coordinating donations via an intermediary: The destructive effect of a sunk overhead cost
by Diya Abraham, Tommaso Reggiani, Miloš Fišar together with Luca Corazzini
in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016
Abstract:
Donors often use the services of an intermediary to prevent their donations from being too thinly distributed over multiple public projects. We explore whether donors’ willingness to coordinate their funds via an intermediary depends on the extent of the intermediary’s discretion over their contributions, as well as the organizational overhead costs incurred by the intermediary. We investigate this using a laboratory experiment in which donors face multiple identical threshold public goods and the opportunity to coordinate their contributions via another donor assigned to the role of intermediary. In line with standard game theoretic predictions, we find that donors make use of the intermediary only when they know she is heavily restricted in terms of the proportion of their contributions she can expropriate for herself. However, we find strong evidence that the positive effect of these restrictions is undone once the intermediary incurs a sunk overhead cost. Our analysis suggests that the ex-ante inequality created as a result of this sunk cost reduces the trustworthiness of the intermediary in the donors’ eyes, which in turn reduces the donors’ willingness to use the intermediary to coordinate their contributions effectively.
by Jakub Procházka, Pavol Kacmar, Tereza Lebedová, Ludmila Dudášová & Martin Vaculík
in International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-023-01135-6
Abstract:
This study aims to validate the revised Compound Psychological Capital scale (CPC-12R) which is a recently published inventory for measuring psychological capital across contexts. The data from three representative samples of employees from the U.S. (n = 456), the Czech Republic (n = 966), and Slovakia (n = 965) revealed a weak measurement invariance across the three cultures, a high internal consistency of all subscales and a good fit of the data to the theoretical model of psychological capital. The data obtained by means of the English version of the CPC-12R showed a very strong correlation with the established Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), medium to strong positive correlations with work engagement, job satisfaction and positive affect, and a weak negative correlation with negative affect. Therefore, this study demonstrates the reliability and factorial, concurrent and convergent validity of CPC-12R in the context of organizations. The study also provides indicative norms for measuring psychological capital in three populations and refers to the limitations of the CPC-12R, in particular, the very small residual variance in first-order factors and the lack of strong invariance across cultures, which prevents a meaningful comparison of factor means across countries.
Ovulatory shift, hormonal changes, and no effects on incentivized decision-making
by Miloš Fišar, Lubomír Cingl, Tommaso Reggiani, Eva Kundtová-Klocová, Radek Kundt, Jan Krátký, Katarína Kostolanská, Petra Bencúrová, Marie Kudličková Pešková, and Klára Marečková
in Journal of Economic Psychology, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2023.102656
Abstract:
Employing an incentivized controlled lab experiment, we investigate the effects of ovulatory shift on salient behavioral outcomes related to (i) risk preferences, (ii) rule violation, and (iii) exploratory attitude. As evolutionary psychology suggests, these outcomes may play an important role in economic decision-making and represent behavioral aspects that may systematically vary over the menstrual cycle to increase the reproductive success. Exploiting a within-subjects design, 124 naturally cycling females participated in experimental sessions during their ovulation and menstruation, the phases between which the difference in the investigated behavior should be the largest. In each session, hormonal samples for cortisol, estradiol, and testosterone were collected. The group of women was also contrasted against an auxiliary reference group composed of 47 males, who are not subject to hormonal variations of this nature. Our results reveal no systematic behavioral differences between the ovulation and menstruation phases.
Causality of the Satisfaction–Performance Relationship: A Task Experiment
by Ludmila Dudášová, Martin Vaculík, Jakub Procházka, Petra Svitavská and Gregory Patton
in Europe's Journal of Psychology, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.4075
Abstract:
Despite the common belief among practitioners that a happy worker is a productive worker, researchers have been struggling to understand the causality between satisfaction and performance for decades. This study attempts to bring clarity to current understanding through an experiment with repeated measures of satisfaction and performance. A total of 143 participants repeatedly performed a task based on the Stroop test, with their objective performance and task satisfaction measured each time. Two different types of feedback (high/low performance) were randomly assigned to participants in order to manipulate perceived performance. The data were analyzed using a path analysis. The results support the hypothesized influence of task satisfaction on task performance and of perceived task performance on task satisfaction.
Reproducibility in Management Science
by Miloš Fišar, Ben Greiner, Christoph Huber, Elena Katok, Ali I. Ozkes and the Management Science Reproducibility Collaboration
in Management Science, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.03556
Abstract:
With the help of more than 700 reviewers, we assess the reproducibility of nearly 500 articles published in the journal Management Science before and after the introduction of a new Data and Code Disclosure policy in 2019. When considering only articles for which data accessibility and hardware and software requirements were not an obstacle for reviewers, the results of more than 95% of articles under the new disclosure policy could be fully or largely computationally reproduced. However, for 29% of articles, at least part of the data set was not accessible to the reviewer. Considering all articles in our sample reduces the share of reproduced articles to 68%. These figures represent a significant increase compared with the period before the introduction of the disclosure policy, where only 12% of articles voluntarily provided replication materials, of which 55% could be (largely) reproduced. Substantial heterogeneity in reproducibility rates across different fields is mainly driven by differences in data set accessibility. Other reasons for unsuccessful reproduction attempts include missing code, unresolvable code errors, weak or missing documentation, and software and hardware requirements and code complexity. Our findings highlight the importance of journal code and data disclosure policies and suggest potential avenues for enhancing their effectiveness.
Project knowledge sharing mechanisms - an exploratory analysis
by Sylva Žáková Talpová, Petr Smutný and Jakub Procházka
in International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1504/IJPOM.2023.129373
Abstract:
Knowledge is a key asset of companies; therefore knowledge sharing is vitally important. Knowledge sharing is no less important for project-oriented organisations; project team members often come from different departments and knowledge sharing enables them to work more efficiently. Although there is no doubt about the importance of knowledge sharing mechanisms (KSMs) and a number of tools and techniques for project knowledge sharing are available, to the best of our knowledge there is little information on the real use of such tools and factors affecting them. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to empirically examine KSMs in projects, and through the exploratory analysis, to identify possible factors associated with KSMs as well as to outline the key areas where future research might help to improve knowledge sharing in projects. The results of this study shall contribute to better understanding knowledge sharing mechanisms and their functioning in project-oriented companies.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Access to Mental Health Care Services
by Benjamin Harrell, Luca Fumarco, Patrick Button, David J. Schwegman and Kyla Denwood
in AEA Papers and Proceedings, 2023. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20231058
Abstract:
The COVID-19 pandemic increased the rate of mental health disorders, as well as demand for mental health services. It remains unclear, however, the extent to which it impacted access to mental health care. Using data from an audit field experiment, which ran from January to May 2020 and overlapped with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine the impact of COVID-19 on access to mental health care appointments in the United States. We find that increased intensity of COVID-19—measured by daily cases, daily fatalities, and weekly excess deaths—is associated with decreased access to mental health care appointments.
Designing Donation Incentive Contracts for Online Gig Workers
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Rainer Michael Rilke
in Journal of Business Ethics, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007
Abstract:
This study examines the effects of donation incentives on labor supply in an online labor market through a field experiment (n = 944). We manipulate the donation purpose of the incentive to be either unifying or polarizing and the size of the donation relative to the workers’ wage. Our experimental design allows us to observe the decision to accept a job (extensive margin) and different dimensions of productivity (intensive margin). We predict and show that a unifying donation purpose attracts more gig workers and improves their productivity compared to a polarizing donation purpose. We discuss the implications of these results in order to understand the role of donation incentives and labor supply in online labor markets.
Minimum wage and tolerance for high incomes
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Andrea Fazio
in European Economic Review, 2023. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016
Abstract:
We suggest that stabilizing the baseline income can make low-wage workers more tolerant towards high income earners. We present evidence of this attitude in the UK by exploiting the introduction of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), which institutionally sets a baseline pay reducing the risk of income losses and providing a clear reference point for British workers at the lower end of the income distribution. Based on data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), we show that workers who benefited from the NMW program became relatively more tolerant of high incomes and more likely to support and vote for the Conservative Party. As far as tolerance for high incomes is related to tolerance of inequality, our results may suggest that people advocate for equality also because they fear income losses below a given reference point.
Social media charity campaigns and pro-social behaviour. Evidence from the Ice Bucket Challenge
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Andrea Fazio, Francesco Scervini
in Journal of Economic Psychology, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2023.102624
Abstract:
Social media use plays an important role in shaping individuals’ social attitudes and economic behaviours. One of the first well-known examples of social media campaigns is the Ice Bucket Challenge (IBC), a charity campaign that went viral on social media networks in August 2014, aiming to collect money for research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We rely on UK longitudinal data to investigate the causal impact of the Ice Bucket Challenge on pro-social behaviours. In detail, this study shows that having been exposed to the IBC increases the probability of donating money, and it also increases the amount of money donated among those who donate at most £100. We also find that exposure to the IBC has increased the probability of volunteering and the level of interpersonal trust. However, all these results, except for the result on the intensive margins of donations, are of short duration and are limited to less than one year. This supports the prevalent consensus that social media campaigns may have only short-term effects.
by Jakub Procházka together with Jakub Nováček, Martin Vaculík
in International Journal of Human Resource Management, 2023. DOI: 10.1080/09585192.2022.2117563
Abstract:
This study is an experiment that examines the effects of positive reference, information about predictive validity, and their interaction on how HR professionals evaluate selection methods. It contributes to understanding why HR practitioners use personnel selection methods that are considered to have low predictive validity. A sample of 173 HR professionals from the Czech Republic was asked to evaluate six selection methods that could be used to select a project manager for a telecommunications company. Each participant was randomly assigned to two experimental conditions as the selection methods were presented together with/without positive reference and with/without information about their predictive validity. The results of repeated measures ANOVAs with two between-subjects factors, one within-subject factor, and their interactions showed that information about predictive validity did not significantly influence how HR professionals evaluated selection methods. The analyses also did not support the effect of positive reference on the evaluation of methods with low validity. In contrast, the analyses provided support for the effect of positive reference on the evaluation of selection methods with high predictive validity. The interaction of reference and information about validity had no significant effect on the evaluation of selection methods by HR professionals.
Social capital and mobility: An experimental study
by Ondřej Krčál, Štěpán Mikula and Rostislav Staněk
in SAGE Journals, 2023. DOI: 10.1177/10434631221134176
Abstract:
Theoretical models of local social capital predict that communities may find themselves in one of two equilibria: one with a high level of local social capital and low migration or one with a low level of local social capital and high migration. There is empirical literature suggesting that immigrants who join communities high in social capital are more likely to invest in local social capital and that the whole community will then end up in the equilibrium with high local social capital and low migration. However, this literature suffers from the selection of immigrants, which makes the identification challenging. In order to test the causal influence of the initial level of local social capital, we take the setup used in the theoretical models into the laboratory. We treat some communities by increasing the initial level of social capital without affecting the equilibrium outcomes. We find that while most communities end up in one of the two equilibria predicted by the theoretical models, the treated communities are more likely to converge to the equilibrium with a high level of local social capital and low migration.
On the Internet you can be anyone: An experiment on strategic avatar choice in online marketplaces
by Diya Abraham, Ben Greiner and Marianne Stephanides
in Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2023. DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2022.11.033
Abstract:
In order to decrease social distance and increase trust on their platforms, many online marketplaces allow traders to be represented by profile pictures or avatars. In a laboratory experiment, we investigate whether the presence of seller avatars affects trading behavior in a market. We contrast markets without avatars with markets where avatars genuinely represent traders and markets where avatars can be freely changed at any time and may thus be chosen strategically. At the aggregate level, we find that the presence of genuine avatars increases the trustworthiness of sellers, but that this effect is undone when avatars can be chosen strategically. We do not detect aggregate effects on buyers’ trusting choices. Female avatars are more trusted, and correspondingly in the treatment with free avatar choice men are more likely to represent themselves with a female avatar than vice versa.
Pain as Social Glue: A Preregistered Direct Replication of Experiment 2 of Bastian et al. (2014)
by Jakub Procházka together with Katarína Pariľaková, Patrik Rudolf, Vojtěch Bruk, Rút Jungwirthová, Sára Fejtová, Radomír Masaryk, and Martin Vaculík
in Psychological Science, 2022. DOI: 10.1177/09567976211040745
Abstract:
Bastian et al. (2014) found that sharing a painful experience promoted later intergroup cooperation. In Bastian et al.’s second experiment, 62 participants were assigned to groups of two to six people each. They performed either two painful or two painless tasks and then played an economic game. The present study consisted of two replications of the experiment: The first was a nonpreregistered pilot study (N = 153 students from the Czech Republic), and the second was a preregistered direct replication (N = 158 students from Slovakia). Important deviations from the original procedure were that (a) gender homogeneity of the small groups was balanced across the conditions and (b) the number of participants in each small group was fixed at three. No relevant effect of shared pain on cooperation emerged. The findings indicate that the true effect of shared pain on cooperation obtained in the original study may have been an overestimate or that the effect is not generally valid across various contexts.
by Jakub Procházka together with Jonáš Herec, Jaroslav Sýkora, Kamil Brahmi, David Vondráček, Oldřiška Dobešová, Martin Smělík, and Martin Vaculík
in Cognitive Science, 2022. DOI: 10.1111/cogs.13168
Abstract:
This study consists of two preregistered systematic replications of an experiment on reflection and reasoning in moral judgment by Paxton, Ungar, and Greene (2012). Czech students read a scenario involving incest between consenting adult siblings and an argument supporting the moral acceptability of the behavior. We manipulated the factors of argument strength (strong vs. weak) and the time that participants had to reflect on the argument (no time vs. 2 min). In the first replication (n = 347), neither the manipulated factors nor their interaction influenced how participants rated the moral acceptability of the incestuous behavior. The only significant predictor in the second replication (n = 717) was argument strength but with a very small effect. The effect of argument strength did not differ across groups either with or without deliberation time. Therefore, neither of the studies replicated the effect that deliberation time moderates the influence of argument strength on moral judgment, even though the samples were considerably larger than in the original study. We thus conclude that the effect of the interaction between the strength of an argument and deliberation time on moral judgment either does not exist or is moderated by certain contextual or sample characteristics.
The effect of font readability on the Moses illusion: A replication study
by Jakub Procházka together with Adéla Janoušková, Jakub Kocyan, Magdaléna Šímová, Kamila Uvírová, Kamila Zahradníčková, and Martin Vaculík
in Consciousness and Cognition, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2022.103284
Abstract:
This research is a replication study that sought to verify whether the readability of a font has an effect on the Moses illusion detection. It was designed to stimulate information retrieval from memory and confuse retrieval with a text’s erroneous wording. Undergraduates aged 19–30 (N = 87, 80% women) were presented with two questions, one of which contained distorted infor- mation. We assumed that a difficult-to-read font would facilitate error detection, as it increases the focus of attention on the text. However, unlike the original study, we were unable to find support for this hypothesis, as font readability did not significantly affect error detection. In the difficult-to-read condition, 43% of participants reported an error, while, in the easy-to-read condition, errors were detected by 37% of the participants. Unlike the original study, our research results do not support the hypothesis that the visual presentation of a text affects the automatic retrieval of information from memory. This study clarifies the effect of text readability on error detection taking into consideration the role of long-term memory and visual perception.
Does gender moderate the influence of emotions on risk-taking? The meta-analysis reloaded
by Matteo M. Marini
in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2022.100700
Abstract:
This paper is a follow-up investigation to the aggregate data meta-analysis by Marini (2022), the latter being designed to detect what study characteristics moderate the effect of emotions on risk preferences. Our work purports to strengthen the findings of Marini (2022) by taking into account gender as a moderator, as well as to extend the analysis along the dimension of country-level individualism. These goals are pursued by pooling individual participant data from the subset of studies that make use of multiple price lists as risk elicitation method. We find that gender does not moderate the influence of emotions on risk propensity and subjects take greater risks when studies are conducted in individualist countries, supporting the evidence of a positive link between individualism and risk-seeking even with respect to participants experiencing no emotion.
The political cost of sanctions: Evidence from COVID-19
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Andrea Fazio and Fabio Sabatini
in Health policy, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2022.06.008
Abstract:
We use survey data to study how trust in government and consensus for the pandemic policy response vary with the propensity for altruistic punishment in Italy, the early epicenter of the pandemic. Approval for the management of the crisis decreases with the size of the penalties that individuals would like to see enforced for lockdown violations. People supporting stronger punishment are more likely to consider the government’s reaction to the pandemic as insufficient. However, after the establishment of tougher sanctions for risky behaviors, we observe a sudden flip in support for the government. Higher amounts of the desired fines become associated with a higher probability of considering the COVID policy response as too extreme, lower trust in government, and lower confidence in the truthfulness of the officially provided information. These results suggest that lockdowns entail a political cost that helps explain why democracies may adopt epidemiologically suboptimal policies.
Advertising cooperative phenotype through costly signals facilitates collective action
by Rostislav Staněk, Martin Lang, Radim Chvaja, Benjamin Grant Purzycki and David Václavík
in Royal Society Open Science, 2022. DOI: 10.1098/rsos.202202
Abstract:
Around the world, people engage in practices that involve self-inflicted pain and apparently wasted resources. Researchers theorized that these practices help stabilize within-group cooperation by assorting individuals committed to collective action. While this proposition was previously studied using existing religious practices, we provide a controlled framework for an experimental investigation of various predictions derived from this theory. We recruited 372 university students in the Czech Republic who were randomly assigned into either a high-cost or low-cost condition and then chose to play a public goods game (PGG) either in a group that wastes money to signal commitment to high contributions in the game or to play in the group without such signals. We predicted that cooperators would assort in the high-cost revealed group and that, despite these costs, they would contribute more to the common pool and earn larger individual rewards over five iterations of PGG compared with the concealed group and participants in the low-cost condition. The results showed that the assortment of cooperators was more effective in the high-cost condition and translated into larger contributions of the remaining endowment to the common pool, but participants in the low-cost revealed group earned the most. We conclude that costly signals can serve as an imperfect assorting mechanism, but the size of the costs needs to be carefully balanced with potential benefits to be profitable.
Residential-Based Discrimination in the Labor Market
by Štěpán Mikula and Tommaso Reggiani
in The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2022. DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2021-0331
Abstract:
Through a correspondence study, this paper investigates whether employers discriminate job applicants based on their living conditions. Exploiting the natural setting provided by a Rapid Re-housing Program, we sent 1347 job applications for low-qualified front-desk jobs in Brno, Czech Republic. The resumes exogenously differed in only one main aspect represented by the address of the applicants, signaling both the quality of the neighborhood and the quality of the housing conditions in which they were living. We found that while the higher quality of the district has a strong effect in increasing the hiring chances (+20%) the actual improvement of the living conditions standards, per se, does not generate any significant positive effect.
Broadband Internet and social capital
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Andrea Geraci Mattia Nardotto Fabio Sabatinid
in Journal of Public Economics, 2022. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104578
Abstract:
We study the impact of broadband penetration on social capital in the UK. Our empirical strategy exploits a technological feature of the telecommunication infrastructure that generated substantial variation in the quality of Internet access across households. The speed of a domestic connection rapidly decays with the distance of a user’s line from the network’s node serving the area. Merging information on the topology of the network with geocoded longitudinal data about individual social capital from 1997 to 2017, we show that access to fast Internet caused a significant decline in civic and political engagement. Overall, our results suggest that broadband penetration crowded out several dimensions of social capital.
Can the color red trick you into drinking less? A replication study
by Jakub Procházka together with Barbora Doležalová, Natalie Hubáčková, Kamila Látalová, Eliška Výborová, Markéta Žáková, and Martin Vaculík
in Appetite, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105619
Abstract:
This replication of the study of Genschow et al. (2012) examines the effect of the color red on beverage con- sumption. In total, 148 men were asked to consume drinks in either red- or blue-labeled cups. Cup labels were assigned at random. Unlike in the previous study, the findings in our replication study did not provide empirical support for the hypothesis that people will drink less from red-labeled cups than blue-labeled cups. The differ- ence between groups in drink consumption was non-significant. Thus, the red color did not have an inhibitory effect on drink intake.
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Tiziana Medda, and Vittorio Pelligra
in Games, 2021. DOI: 10.3390/g12010018
Abstract:
Experimental social scientists working at research-intensive institutions deal inevitably with subjects who have most likely participated in previous experiments. It is an important methodological question to know whether participants that have acquired a high level of lab-sophistication show altered pro-social behavioural patterns. In this paper, we focus both on the potential effect of the subjects’ lab-sophistication, and on the role of the knowledge about the level of lab-sophistication of the other participants. Our main findings show that while lab-sophistication per se does not significantly affect pro-social behaviour, for sophisticated subjects the knowledge about the counterpart’s level of (un)sophistication may systematically alter their choices. This result should induce caution among experimenters about whether, in their settings, information about lab-sophistication can be inferred by the participants, due to the characteristics of the recruitment mechanisms, the management of the experimental sessions or to other contextual clues.
A field experiment on dishonesty: A registered replication of Azar et al. (2013)
by Jakub Procházka together with Yulia Fedoseevab and Petr Houdek
in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2020.101617
Abstract:
This study is a registered replication of a field experiment on dishonesty by Azar et al. (2013). Their main finding was that most customers of an Israeli restaurant did not return excessive change; however, customers who received a higher amount of excessive change returned it more often than people who received a lower amount. Our study, which was conducted on a sample of customers of restaurants in the Czech Republic (N=219), replicated the results of the original study. The high excessive change condition increased the chance of re- turning the excess change by 21.7 percentage points (17.4 percentage points in the original study). The findings show that the psychological costs of dishonesty can outweigh its financial benefits. We similarly found that repeat customers and women were more likely to return the excessive change than one-time customers and men. The majority (70%) of customers in our sample returned the excessive change. We discuss the importance of field studies and replications of them in the further development of research into dishonest behavior.
Responding to (un)reasonable requests by an authority
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Vittorio Pelligra, and Daniel Zizzo
in Theory and Decision, 2020. DOI: 10.1007/s11238-020-09758-0
Abstract:
We consider the notions of static and dynamic reasonableness of requests by an authority in a trust game experiment. The authority, modeled as the experimenter, systematically varies the experimental norm of what is expected from trustees to return to trustors, both in terms of the level of each request and in terms of the sequence of the requests. Static reasonableness matters in a self-biased way, in the sense that low requests justify returning less, but high requests tend to be ignored. Dynamic reasonableness also matters, in the sense that, if requests keep increasing, trustees return less compared to the same requests presented in random or decreasing order. Requests never systematically increase trustworthiness but may decrease it.
Sandwich feedback: The empirical evidence of its effectiveness
by Michal Ďuriník together with Jakub Procházka, and Martin Ovcari
in Learning and motivation, 2020, vol. 71. DOI: 10.1016/j.lmot.2020.101649
Abstract:
This experiment tests the effectiveness of “sandwich” feedback. 91 university students solved 12 mathematical problems from the secondary-school curriculum. After the time limit, we assigned them randomly to one of three possible treatments. One group received corrective computer-administrated feedback, describing the mistakes with their methods and solutions. The second group received sandwich feedback, consisting of the same corrective part presented between two general positive statements unrelated to the participants’ actual performance. The third group did not receive any feedback. Afterwards, the participants had 10 min to prepare for the second set of similar problems. Participants who received sandwich feedback utilized more time on preparation and solved more problems from the second set than the participants from the other two groups. This study provides only partial evidence for the effectiveness of sandwich feedbacks as it tested the effect under one specific condition using computer-mediated written feedback on math test. Further replications are needed to test the effect under various conditions, to test various forms of sandwich feedback, to explain the mechanism of sandwich feedback and to show whether the effect of sandwich feedback is caused by the specific sequence of feedback components or by mere presence of positive statements.
Delegation and coordination with multiple threshold public goods: experimental evidence
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Luca Corazzini and Christopher Cotton
in Experimental economics, 2019. DOI: 10.1007/s10683-019-09639-6
Abstract:
When multiple charities, social programs and community projects simultaneously vie for funding, donors risk mis-coordinating their contributions leading to an inefficient distribution of funding across projects. Community chests and other intermediary organizations facilitate coordination among donors and reduce such risks. To study this, we extend a threshold public goods framework to allow donors to contribute through an intermediary rather than directly to the public goods. Through a series of experiments, we show that the presence of an intermediary increases public good success and subjects’ earnings only when the intermediary is formally committed to direct donations to socially beneficial goods. Without such a restriction, the presence of an intermediary has a negative impact, complicating the donation environment, decreasing contributions and public good success.
Civility and trust in social media
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Angelo Antoci, Laura Bonelli, Fabio Paglieri, and Fabio Sabatini
in Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 2019, vol. 160. DOI:10.1016/j.jebo.2019.02.026
Abstract:
Social media have been credited with the potential of reinvigorating trust by offering new opportunities for social and political participation. This view has been recently challenged by the rising phenomenon of online incivility, which has made the environment of social networking sites hostile to many users. We conduct a novel experiment in a Facebook setting to study how the effect of social media on trust varies depending on the civility or incivility of online interaction. We find that participants exposed to civil Facebook interaction are significantly more trusting. In contrast, when the use of Facebook is accompanied by the experience of online incivility, no significant changes occur in users’ behavior. These results are robust to alternative configurations of the treatments.
The Pied Piper: Prizes, Incentives, and Motivation Crowding-in
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Luigino Bruni, Vittorio Pelligra, and Matteo Rizzolli
in Journal of Business Ethics. 2019, vol. 156. DOI:10.1007/s10551-019-04154-3
Abstract:
In mainstream business and economics, prizes such as the Presidential Medal of Freedom are understood as special types of incentives, with the peculiar features of being awarded in public, and of having largely symbolic value. Informed by both historical considerations and philosophical instances, our study defines fundamental theoretical differences between incentives and prizes. The conceptual factors highlighted by our analytical framework are then tested through a laboratory experiment. The experimental exercise aims to analyze how prizes and incentives impact actual individuals’ behavior differently. Our results show that both incentives (monetary and contingent) and prizes (non-monetary and discretional rewards) boost motivation to perform if awarded publicly, but only prizes crowd-in motivation promoting virtuous attitude.
by Jiří Špalek together with Jan Říkovský
in Fresenius Environmental Bulletin. 2019, vol. 28, no. 1.
Abstract:
The poverty in developing countries of the world represents a global environmental issue under Millennium Development Goals. One of the ways how to mitigate this global environmental problem ise humanitarian response. But, there is a considera- ble knowledge gap in environmental scientific liter- ature concerning the application of humanitarian aid as a support tool for addressing of it. This paper deals with application of the economic experiment method in an analysis of determinants of decision-making on the mitigation of global environmental issues using humanitarian aid in the context of subjective ration- ality. The methods in this study are based on experi- ment drawing on mathematical economic models supporting by statistical analyses. This methodolog- ical approach offers the opportunity for selfish be- haviour in accordance with the game theory, thus al- lowing us to compare reality with traditional as- sumptions. Selected assumptions are transformed into hypotheses whose validity is consistent with the approach and conclusions of the presented study. The conducted experiment confirmed all the tested hypotheses and many other hypotheses could be ver- ified by other experiments of a different design. The environmental discourse concerning human deci- sion-making has long been dominated by the concept of people as strictly rational beings motivated only by profit (e.g. in the form of drawing ecosystem ser- vices) and perfectly capable of analysing all the con- sequences of their decisions. Although the growing influence of behavioural economics has facilitated the explanation of some kinds of observed behav- iours, the umbrella term “subjective rationality” suf- fers due to its general broadness. The presented study is striving to find a way of synthesising the currently used sophisticated analytical methods with the be- havioural perspective on decision-making on the mitigation of global environmental issues.
Time preferences, cognitive abilities and intrinsic motivation to exert effort
by Rostislav Staněk, and Ondřej Krčál
in Applied Economics Letters. 2019, vol. issue 12. DOI:10.1080/13504851.2018.1529387
Abstract:
The experimental literature has found a positive relationship between patience and performance in cognitive tests that are not incentivized by money. It has also been shown that unincentivized cognitive tests capture not only cognitive ability (CA), but also intrinsic motivation related to the test takers’ personality traits. In order to determine whether the relationship between patience and test scores is driven by intrinsic motivation or CA, we run an experiment in which subjects take either incentivized or unincentivized cognitive tests. We find that while incentivized test scores positively correlate with patience, the unincentivized scores are not related to the time preferences of our subjects. The observed correlation between patience and cognitive test scores therefore seems to be driven by CA rather than by intrinsic motivation related to personality traits.
by Rostislav Staněk, and Jiří Špalek together with Daniel Shaw, Kristína Czekóová, Martin Gajdoš, and Michal Brázdil
in Human Brain Mapping. 2019, vol. 40, issue 2. DOI:10.1002/hbm.24446
Abstract:
During social interactions, decision‐making involves mutual reciprocity—each individual's choices are simultaneously a consequence of, and antecedent to those of their interaction partner. Neuroeconomic research has begun to unveil the brain networks underpinning social decision‐making, but we know little about the patterns of neural connectivity within them that give rise to reciprocal choices. To investigate this, the present study measured the behaviour and brain function of pairs of individuals (N = 66) whilst they played multiple rounds of economic exchange comprising an iterated ultimatum game. During these exchanges, both players could attempt to maximise their overall monetary gain by reciprocating their opponent's prior behaviour—they could promote generosity by rewarding it, and/or discourage unfair play through retaliation. By adapting a model of reciprocity from experimental economics, we show that players' choices on each exchange are captured accurately by estimating their expected utility (EU) as a reciprocal reaction to their opponent's prior behaviour. We then demonstrate neural responses that map onto these reciprocal choices in two brain regions implicated in social decision‐making: right anterior insula (AI) and anterior/anterior‐mid cingulate cortex (aMCC). Finally, with behavioural Dynamic Causal Modelling, we identified player‐specific patterns of effective connectivity between these brain regions with which we estimated each player's choices with over 70% accuracy; namely, bidirectional connections between AI and aMCC that are modulated differentially by estimates of EU from our reciprocity model. This input‐state‐output modelling procedure therefore reveals systematic brain–behaviour relationships associated with the reciprocal choices characterising interactive social decision‐making.
Differences in facial affect recognition between non-offending and offending drivers
by Jan Řezáč together with Martina Trepáčová, Pavel Řezáč, Veronika Kurečková, Petr Zámečníka, and Lenka Kopečková
in Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. 2019, vol. 60. DOI:10.1016/j.trf.2018.11.009
Abstract:
It is assumed that emotion recognition is a complex process related to prosocial and antisocial behaviour (Marsh & Blair, 2008). The present study focuses on the connection between recognizing emotions and safe/unsafe driving. We studied whether there are differences in response time in facial emotion recognition. Fifty-one non-offenders and 41 offenders completed a Pictures of Facial Affect test (Ekman & Friesen, 1976) wherein photographs of prototypical facial emotional expressions were presented. Results show differences between the groups in response time to all emotions whether answers were correct or incorrect. Data show that non-offenders are faster in recognizing emotions than are offenders. These findings demonstrate that offenders exhibit specific deficits in response time for facial affect expressions.
The Short Maximization Inventory
by Michal Ďuriník together with Jakub Procházka, and Hynek Cígler
in Judgment & Decision Making. 2018, vol. 13(1).
Abstract:
We developed the Short Maximization Inventory (SMI) by shortening the Maximization Inventory (Turner, Rim, Betz & Nygren, 2012) from 34 items to 15 items. Using the Item Response Theory framework, we identified and removed the items of the Maximization Inventory that contributed least to the performance of the original scale. The construct validity assessed for SMI is similar to the full MI and is in line with the predictions from the literature: the Satisficing subscale is positively related to the indices of well-being, while the Decision Difficulty and Alternative Search subscales are negatively related to well-being. The new scale retains the good psychometric properties of the original scale. Furthermore, its brevity allows researchers to use the scale in studies in which maximization is not the primary focus. Although the SMI lacks the “High Standards” subscale, as did the original MI, we believe that SMI is a step towards developing a reliable and conceptually sound measure of maximizing that can be used in various research designs.
by Rostislav Staněk, Jiří Špalek, and Jan Řezáč together with Daniel Shaw, Kristína Czekóová, Radek Mareček, Lenka Kopečková, Tomáš Urbánek, and Michal Brázdil
in Scientific reports. 2018, 8. DOI:10.1038/s41598-018-29233-9.
Abstract:
Dyadic interactions often involve a dynamic process of mutual reciprocity; to steer a series of exchanges towards a desired outcome, both interactants must adapt their own behaviour according to that of their interaction partner. Understanding the brain processes behind such bidirectional reciprocity is therefore central to social neuroscience, but this requires measurement of both individuals’ brains during real-world exchanges. We achieved this by performing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on pairs of male individuals simultaneously while they interacted in a modified iterated Ultimatum Game (iUG). In this modification, both players could express their intent and maximise their own monetary gain by reciprocating their partner’s behaviour – they could promote generosity through cooperation and/or discourage unfair play with retaliation. By developing a novel model of reciprocity adapted from behavioural economics, we then show that each player’s choices can be predicted accurately by estimating expected utility (EU) not only in terms of immediate payoff, but also as a reaction to their opponent’s prior behaviour. Finally, for the first time we reveal that brain signals implicated in social decision making are modulated by these estimates of EU, and become correlated more strongly between interacting players who reciprocate one another.
by Tommaso Reggiani together with Leonardo Becchetti, Vittorio Pelligra
in International Tax and Public Finance. 2017, 24: 1026. DOI:10.1007/s10797-017-9474-z
Abstract:
In this paper, we study by means of a framed field experiment on a representative sample of the population the effect on people’s charitable giving of three, substantial and procedural, elements: information provision, belief elicitation and threshold on distribution. We frame this investigation within the 5X1000 tax scheme, a mechanism through which Italian taxpayers may choose to give a small proportion (0.5%) of their income tax to a voluntary organization to fund its activities. We find two main results: (i) providing information or eliciting beliefs about previous donations increases the likelihood of a donation, while thresholds have no effect; (ii) information about previous funding increases donations to organizations that received fewer donations in the past, while belief elicitation also increases donations to organizations that received most donations in the past, since individuals are more likely to donate to the organizations they rank first.
Home bias in sport betting: Evidence from Czech betting market
by Rostislav Staněk
in Judgment and Decision Making. 2017, vol. 12, issue 2.
Abstract:
In sport betting, bettors exhibit home bias when they tend to bet on their home team more often. The paper offers a straightforward method of empirical identification of the home bias in the real-world betting market. Using Czech betting data on the league and the national ice-hockey matches, the paper provides support for the existence of the home bias in the Czech betting market.
Personal interest branding: Source of price premium
by Michal Ďuriník together with Aneta Suchomelová and Jakub Procházka
in Journal of International Consumer Marketing. 2017, vol. 29(1). DOI:10.1080/08961530.2016.1236309
Abstract:
This study looks at whether and why people are prepared to pay more money for products that signalize their personal interests. The design is an intrasubject field experiment carried out using five, real, one-sided Internet auctions. The sample consists of 83 participants from the Czech Flamenco community. In the auction, they placed bids for five types of products—a branded bag, a white shopping bag, a mug, a white top, and a black T-shirt. These items appeared in the auction randomly in Flamenco (bearing visual reference to Flamenco culture) and non-Flamenco generic versions. In the case of the white shopping bag, the mug, and the tank top, the respondents were willing to pay almost double for the Flamenco version in comparison with the generic version. This was partly due to their greater emotional attachment to the Flamenco version of the product. The price difference for the branded bag and the black T-shirt was smaller and insignificant. This study opens up the theme of personal interest branding.
External validity of prospect theory: The evidence from soccer betting
by Ondřej Krčál, and Rostislav Staněk together with Michal Kvasnička
in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 2016, vol. 65. DOI:10.1016/j.socec.2016.07.005
Abstract:
This paper tests whether the prospect theory parameters estimated from laboratory experiments correspond to estimates from real-life betting markets. Using Czech soccer betting data, we estimate the functional forms of the value and probability weighting functions commonly used for the experimental validation of prospect theory. In line with the experimental evidence, we find that bettors are risk averse in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses and tend to overweight small probabilities and underweight medium and large probabilities. On the other hand, our findings suggest that bettors do not exhibit loss aversion. This might be at least partly explained by recent experimental evidence suggesting that loss aversion is weaker or absent if the decision-makers are experienced, if they face similar choices repeatedly, and if the decisions are made in a context where offers are usually accepted.
Gender Differences in Beliefs and Actions in a Framed Corruption Experiment
by Miloš Fišar, Jiří Špalek, James Tremewan together with Matúš Kubák
in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics. 2016, vol. 63. DOI:10.1016/j.socec.2016.05.004
Abstract:
We elicit actions and beliefs in a framed corruption experiment enabling us to investigate how gender differences in corrupt behaviour relate to gender differences in both beliefs about the behaviour of others and the relationship between those beliefs and actions. We find that women are less likely to engage in costly punishment of corruption, and believe corruption to be more prevalent than men. Differences between the genders in the relationship between beliefs and actions provides evidence that men experience a greater psychological cost as a result of social sanctions. Controlling for beliefs and gender differences in sensitivity to beliefs we find that males are, in many instances, more likely to offer bribes, while females are less likely to conform to a norm of bribe-giving. This result was not apparent in the raw data, and highlights the importance of considering beliefs in corruption experiments.