Daily Labor Supply and Adaptive Reference Points

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Thakral, Neil; To, Linh T.
• 署名单位: Brown University; Boston University
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0002-8282
• DOI: 10.1257/aer.20170768
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 2417-2443
• 关键词: reference-dependent preferences; loss aversion; rational-expectations; prospect-theory; taxi; RISK; endowments; regression; DECISION; drivers

摘要

This paper provides field evidence on how reference points adjust, a degree of freedom in reference-dependence models. Examining this in the context of cabdrivers' daily labor-supply behavior, we ask how the within-day timing of earnings affects decisions. Drivers work less in response to higher accumulated income, with a strong effect for recent earnings that gradually diminishes for earlier earnings. We estimate a structural model in which drivers work toward a reference point that adjusts to deviations from expected earnings with a lag. This dynamic view of reference dependence reconciles conflicting neoclassical and behavioral interpretations of evidence on daily labor-supply decisions.