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作者:Ghosh, Sambuddha; Tripathi, Vinayak
作者单位:Boston University
摘要:Our model considers a majority election between two candidates-an ideologue committed to a fixed policy and an idealist who implements the ex post choice of the majority. Voters are aware that their individual rankings of policies may change after the election according to common or idiosyncratic shocks. We show that in equilibrium the ideologue often beats the idealist, even when this choice hurts all voters. Inefficiency arises both for sincere and for strategic voters; we also show that it ...
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作者:Mookherjee, Dilip; Prina, Silvia; Ray, Debraj
作者单位:Boston University; University System of Ohio; Case Western Reserve University; New York University
摘要:Theories based on partial equilibrium reasoning alone cannot explain the widespread negative cross-sectional correlation between parental wages and fertility, without restrictive assumptions on preferences and childcare costs. We argue that incorporating a dynamic general equilibrium analysis of returns to human capital can help explain observed empirical patterns. Other by-products of this theory include explanations for intergenerational mobility without stochastic shocks, connections betwee...
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作者:Holmes, Thomas J.; Levine, David K.; Schmitz, James A., Jr.
作者单位:University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities; Washington University (WUSTL); Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Minneapolis; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要:Arrow (1962) argued that since a monopoly restricts output relative to a competitive industry, it would be less willing to pay a fixed cost to adopt a new technology. We develop a new theory of why a monopolistic industry innovates less. Firms often face major problems in integrating new technologies. In some cases, upon adoption of technology, firms must temporarily reduce output. We call such problems switchover disruptions. A cost of adoption, then, is the forgone rents on the sales of lost...
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作者:Fainmesser, Itay P.
作者单位:Brown University
摘要:Consider a large market with asymmetric information, in which sellers have the option to cheat their buyers, and buyers decide whether to repurchase from different sellers. We model active trade relationships as links in a buyer-seller network and study repeated games in such networks. Endowing sellers with incomplete knowledge of the network, we derive conditions that determine whether a network is consistent with cooperation between every buyer and seller that are connected. Three network fe...
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作者:Levy, Gilat; Razin, Ronny
作者单位:University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
摘要:We analyze the relation between religious beliefs, religious participation, and social cooperation. We focus on religions that instill beliefs about the connection between rewards and punishments and social behavior. We show how religious organizations arise endogenously, and identify a spiritual as well as a material payoff for being religious. We show that religious groups that are more demanding in their rituals are smaller, more cohesive, and are composed of individuals with more extreme b...
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作者:Goette, Lorenz; Huffman, David; Meier, Stephan
作者单位:University of Lausanne; Swarthmore College; Columbia University
摘要:Economists are increasingly interested in how group membership affects individual behavior. The standard method assigns individuals to minimal groups, i.e. arbitrary labels, in a lab. But real groups often involve social interactions leading to social ties between group members. Our experiments compare randomly assigned minimal groups to randomly assigned groups involving real social interactions. While adding social ties leads to qualitatively similar, although stronger, in-group favoritism i...
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作者:Robson, Arthur J.; Szentes, Balazs; Iantchev, Emil
作者单位:Simon Fraser University; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; Syracuse University
摘要:We consider the evolutionary basis of time discounting with intergen-erational transfers. We show that the notion of reproductive value from biology provides the utility criterion for a parent to optimize the allocation of resources between transfers to offspring and to promote her own survival. This optimization has a natural dynamic programming formulation. We show that younger individuals may well be too impatient, but older individuals too patient in accordance with observations. We compar...
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作者:Vossler, Christian A.; Doyon, Maurice; Rondeau, Daniel
作者单位:University of Tennessee System; University of Tennessee Knoxville; University of Tennessee System; University of Tennessee Knoxville; Laval University; University of Victoria
摘要:This paper explores methodological issues surrounding the use of discrete choice experiments to elicit values for public goods. We develop an explicit game theoretic model of individual decisions, providing conditions under which surveys with a single binary choice question, or sequence of binary choice questions, are incentive-compatible. We complement the theory with a framed field experiment, with treatments that span the spectrum from incentive-compatible, financially binding decisions to ...
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作者:Larkin, Ian; Leider, Stephen
作者单位:Harvard University; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
摘要:We investigate how the convexity of a firm's incentives interacts with worker overconfidence to affect sorting decisions and performance. We demonstrate, experimentally, that overconfident employees are more likely to sort into a nonlinear incentive scheme over a linear one, even though this reduces pay for many subjects and despite the presence of clear feedback. Additionally, the linear scheme attracts demotivated, underconfident workers who perform below their ability. Our findings suggest ...
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作者:Pozzi, Andrea
摘要:This paper compares consumers' brand exploration when shopping online versus in a brick-and-mortar store. I use a new scanner dataset to compare the behavior of households shopping online and in-store at the same chain, for identical items and prices. I find that brand exploration is more prevalent in-store. My model quantifies the role of features of e-commerce, like the existence of favorites lists and the difficulty in verifying item quality. Limited exploration online implies higher barrie...