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Full-Text Articles in Economics
Anchoring In Financial Decision-Making: Evidence From The Field, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker
Anchoring In Financial Decision-Making: Evidence From The Field, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker
Economics Faculty Publications
This paper analyzes 12,596 wagering decisions of 6,064 contestants in the US game show Jeopardy!, focusing on the anchoring phenomenon in financial decision-making. We find that contestants anchor heavily on the initial dollar value of a clue in their wagering decision, even though there exists no rational reason to do so. More than half of all wagers occur within $500 of the initial dollar value, although the maximum possible wagering value averages $5,914. This anchoring phenomenon remains statistically significant on the one percent level, even after controlling for scores, clue category, time trends, and player-fixed effects.When exploiting within-player variation …
Gender In Jeopardy!: The Role Of Opponent Gender In High-Stakes Competition, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker
Gender In Jeopardy!: The Role Of Opponent Gender In High-Stakes Competition, Michael Jetter, Jay K. Walker
Economics Faculty Publications
Using 4,279 episodes of the popular US game show Jeopardy!, we analyze whether the opponents' gender is able to explain the gender gap in competitive behavior. Our findings indicate that gender differences disappear when women compete against men. This result is surprising, but emerges with remarkable consistency for the probability to (i) respond, (ii) respond correctly, and (iii) respond correctly in high-stakes situations. Even risk preferences in wagering decisions, where gender differences are especially pronounced, do not differ across gender once a woman competes against males. Using a fixed-effects framework, and therefore exploiting within-player …
The Big Economic Development Project Question: Is It New Revenue Or A Spending Transfer?, Paul Harris, Ronald Berkebile, Julia Martin, Larry Filer
The Big Economic Development Project Question: Is It New Revenue Or A Spending Transfer?, Paul Harris, Ronald Berkebile, Julia Martin, Larry Filer
Economics Faculty Publications
Most local governments pursue some degree of economic development activity to strengthen their economy by adding jobs and generating tax revenue. Witness the growth in tax increment financing, property tax abatements, tax credits, and exemptions for economic development. These state and local incentives totaled more than $80 billion in 2012. Economic development projects can represent a significant boon for a local economy. Estimating how much money they might generate, however, is not as easy as it initially seems, and jurisdictions can receive far less net new revenue than developers predict. Most consumers have finite incomes, which limits their discretionary spending. …