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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Essays On Decision Making Under Risk And Uncertainty, Dong Yan
Essays On Decision Making Under Risk And Uncertainty, Dong Yan
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation uses economic theory, in tandem with experiments and other empirical methods, to better understand the role of information – for instance, missing information, conflicting information, and information overload – in determining outcomes in decision settings characterized by risk and uncertainty. In my first chapter, I use theory and experiments to compare market outcomes in a setting where the seller has better information on product quality than the buyer, and examine the effects of introducing a third-party who can credibly relay information on product quality. Under a range of conditions, I find market efficiency is higher when the information …
The Impact Of Taxes And Wasteful Government Spending On Giving, Roman Sheremeta, Neslihan Uler
The Impact Of Taxes And Wasteful Government Spending On Giving, Roman Sheremeta, Neslihan Uler
ESI Working Papers
We examine how taxes impact charitable giving and how this relationship is affected by the degree of wasteful government spending. In our model, individuals make donations to charities knowing that the government collects a flat-rate tax on income (net of charitable donations) and redistributes part of the tax revenue. The rest of the tax revenue is wasted. The model predicts that a higher tax rate increases charitable donations. Surprisingly, the model shows that a higher degree of waste decreases donations (when the elasticity of marginal utility with respect to consumption is high enough). We test the model’s predictions using a …
The Economics Of Babysitting A Robot, Aleksandr Alekseev
The Economics Of Babysitting A Robot, Aleksandr Alekseev
ESI Working Papers
I study the welfare effect of automation on workers in a setting where technology is complementary but imperfect. Using a modified task-based framework, I argue that imperfect complementary automation can impose non-pecuniary costs on workers via a behavioral channel. The theoretical model suggests that a critical factor determining the welfare effect of imperfect complementary automation is the automatability of the production process. I confirm the model's predictions in an experiment that elicits subjects' revealed preference for automation. Increasing automatability leads to a significant increase in the demand for automation. I explore additional drivers of the demand for automation using machine …
A Test Of The Modigliani-Miller Theorem, Dividend Policy And Algorithmic Arbitrage In Experimental Asset Markets, Tibor Neugebauer, Jason Shachat, Wiebke Szymczak
A Test Of The Modigliani-Miller Theorem, Dividend Policy And Algorithmic Arbitrage In Experimental Asset Markets, Tibor Neugebauer, Jason Shachat, Wiebke Szymczak
ESI Working Papers
Modigliani and Miller showed that the market value of the company is in dependent of its capital structure, and suggested that dividend policy makes no difference to this law of one price. We experimentally test the MM theorem in a complete market with two simultaneously traded assets, employing two experimental treatment variations. The first variation involves the dividend stream. According to this variation the dividend payout order is either identical or independent. The second variation involves the market participation, or not, of an algorithmic arbitrageur. We find that Modigliani-Miller's law of one price can be supported on average with or …
Viral Social Media Videos Can Raise Pro-Social Behaviours When An Epidemic Arises, Youting Guo, Jason Shachat, Matthew J. Walker, Lijia Wei
Viral Social Media Videos Can Raise Pro-Social Behaviours When An Epidemic Arises, Youting Guo, Jason Shachat, Matthew J. Walker, Lijia Wei
ESI Working Papers
At the onset of an epidemic, can viral social media videos induce the high levels of trust and pro-sociality required for a successful community response? Shortly after the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus in Wuhan, China, we conducted an experiment assessing the impact of viral videos on individual preferences and pro-social behaviour. Prior to the experiment, participants viewed one of three videos culled from Chinese social media: a central government leader visiting a local hospital and supermarket, health care volunteers transiting to Wuhan, or an emotionally neutral video unrelated to the emergency. Viewing one of the first two videos leads …