ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN TURKISH CULTURE: PUBLIC GOODS GAMES AND LONELY ELEPHANTS

While the public good experiment has been used to analyze cooperation among various groups in Western Europe and North America, it has not been extensively used in other contexts such as Turkey. This project seeks to rectify that and explore how Turkish university students informally self govern. By employing the public good experiment among a cohort of students attending universities in Ýzmir, Turkey and Adýyaman, Turkey, we hope to quantitatively analyze the factors which lead to altruistic punishment, to antisocial punishment, and ultimately to enhanced cooperation in Turkish society.Cooperation, Free Riding, Altruism, Punishment, Trust, Experimental Economics, Public Good Experiments

Essays on inequality aversion, conditional cooperation, and punishment

Recent developments in behavioral and experimental economics have shown that many people display other-regarding motives, in addition to self-interest. These social preferences – which include inequality aversion, conditional cooperation, and motives for punishment – make sense of a number of phenomena left unexplained by standard economic theory. This thesis is a collection of studies examining social preferences using the tools of experimental economics. Chapter 1 introduces the thesis explaining our goals and methods, as well as previewing our substantive contributions. Chapter 2 reports an experiment designed both to replicate and extend previous studies. We elicit and compare stated and revealed inequality aversion at the individual- level for subjects drawn from three different subject pools. Chapter 3 investigates whether inequality aversion, as modelled by Fehr and Schmidt (1999), explains free riding and conditional cooperation in a public good game. Chapter 4 investigates whether observed variation in the directionality of punishment between two subject pools can be explained by the “Culture of Honor” hypothesis. Chapter 5 concludes

Social Norms and Dishonesty Across Societies

Social norms have long been recognized as an important factor in curtailing antisocial behavior, and stricter prosocial norms are commonly associated with increased prosocial behavior. In this study, we provide evidence that very strict prosocial norms can have a perverse negative relationship with prosocial behavior. In laboratory experiments conducted in 10 countries across 5 continents, we measured the level of honest behavior and elicited injunctive norms of honesty. We find that individuals who hold very strict norms (i.e., those who perceive a small lie to be as socially unacceptable as a large lie) are more likely to lie to the maximal extent possible. This finding is consistent with a simple behavioral rationale. If the perceived norm does not differentiate between the severity of a lie, lying to the full extent is optimal for a norm violator since it maximizes the financial gain, while the perceived costs of the norm violation are unchanged. We show that the relation between very strict prosocial norms and high levels of rule violations generalizes to civic norms related to common moral dilemmas, such as tax evasion, cheating on government benefits, and fare dodging on public transportation. Those with very strict attitudes toward civic norms are more likely to lie to the maximal extent possible. A similar relation holds across countries. Countries with a larger fraction of people with very strict attitudes toward civic norms have a higher society-level prevalence of rule violations

Photodriven charge accumulation and carrier dynamics in a water‐soluble carbon nitride photocatalyst

Charge accumulation in photoactive molecules and materials holds great promise in solar energy conversion as it allows for decoupling solar‐driven charging from (dark) redox reactions. In this contribution, light‐driven charge accumulation was investigated for a recently reported novel water‐soluble carbon nitride [K,Na‐poly(heptazine imide); K,Na‐PHI] photocatalyst, which exhibits excellent activity and stability in highly selective photocatalytic oxidation of alcohols and concurrent reduction of dioxygen to H 2 O 2 under quasi‐homogeneous conditions. An excellent charge storage ability of the K,Na‐PHI material was demonstrated, showing an optimal density of accumulated electrons (32.2 μmol of electrons per gram) in the presence of 10 vol % MeOH as a sacrificial electron donor. The long‐lived electrons accumulated under anaerobic conditions as K,Na‐PHI .− radical ions were utilized in interfacial electron transfer to O 2 or methyl viologen in a subsequent dark reaction. Ultrafast time‐resolved spectroscopy was employed to reveal the kinetics of charge‐carrier recombination and methanol oxidation. Geminate recombination of electrons and holes within approximately 100 ps was followed by trap‐assisted recombination. The presence of methanol as a sacrificial electron donor accelerated the decay of the transient absorption signal when a static sample was used. This behavior was ascribed to the faster charge recombination in the presence of the radical anions generated after hole extraction. The work suggests that photodriven electron storage in the water‐soluble carbon nitride is enabled by localized trap states, and highlights the importance of the effective electron donor for creating long‐lived photo‐generated carbon nitride radicals.Taking a (very) quick look : A water‐soluble carbon nitride reveals excellent storage capacity for photogenerated charges. The photoinduced dynamics in this high‐performance water‐soluble carbon nitride photocatalyst are investigated by ultrafast time‐resolved spectroscopy

Photodoping and Fast Charge Extraction in Ionic Carbon Nitride Photoanodes

Ionic carbon nitrides based on poly(heptazine imides) (PHI) represent a vigorously studied class of materials with possible applications in photocatalysis and energy storage. Herein, for the first time, the photogenerated charge dynamics in highly stable and binder-free PHI photoanodes using in operando transient photocurrents and spectroelectrochemical photoinduced absorption measurements is studied. It is discovered that light-induced accumulation of long-lived trapped electrons within the PHI film leads to effective photodoping of the PHI film, resulting in a significant improvement of photocurrent response due to more efficient electron transport. While photodoping is previously reported for various semiconductors, it has not been shown before for carbon nitride materials. Furthermore, it is found that the extraction kinetics of untrapped electrons are remarkably fast in these PHI photoanodes, with electron extraction times (ms) comparable to those measured for commonly employed metal oxide semiconductors. These results shed light on the excellent performance of PHI photoanodes in alcohol photoreforming, including very negative photocurrent onset, outstanding fill factor, and the possibility to operate under zero-bias conditions. More generally, the here reported photodoping effect and fast electron extraction in PHI photoanodes establish a strong rationale for the use of PHI films in various applications, such as bias-free photoelectrochemistry or photobatteries. © 2021 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH Gmb

Photodoping and fast charge extraction in ionic carbon nitride photoanodes

Ionic carbon nitrides based on poly(heptazine imides) (PHI) represent a vigorously studied class of materials with possible applications in photocatalysis and energy storage. Herein, for the first time, the photogenerated charge dynamics in highly stable and binder‐free PHI photoanodes using in operando transient photocurrents and spectroelectrochemical photoinduced absorption measurements is studied. It is discovered that light‐induced accumulation of long‐lived trapped electrons within the PHI film leads to effective photodoping of the PHI film, resulting in a significant improvement of photocurrent response due to more efficient electron transport. While photodoping is previously reported for various semiconductors, it has not been shown before for carbon nitride materials. Furthermore, it is found that the extraction kinetics of untrapped electrons are remarkably fast in these PHI photoanodes, with electron extraction times (ms) comparable to those measured for commonly employed metal oxide semiconductors. These results shed light on the excellent performance of PHI photoanodes in alcohol photoreforming, including very negative photocurrent onset, outstanding fill factor, and the possibility to operate under zero‐bias conditions. More generally, the here reported photodoping effect and fast electron extraction in PHI photoanodes establish a strong rationale for the use of PHI films in various applications, such as bias‐free photoelectrochemistry or photobatteries

Endogenous Gonadal Hormone Exposure and Bone Sarcoma Risk

Although experimental and clinical evidence suggest that endogenous sex hormones influence bone sarcoma genesis, the hypothesis has not been adequately tested in an appropriate animal model. We conducted a historical cohort study of Rottweiler dogs because they frequently undergo elective gonadectomy and spontaneously develop appendicular bone sarcomas, which mimic the biological behavior of the osteosarcomas that affect children and adolescents. Data were collected by questionnaire from owners of 683 Rottweiler dogs living in North America. To determine whether there was an association between endogenous sex hormones and risk of bone sarcoma, relative risk (RR) of incidence rates and hazard ratios for bone sarcoma were calculated for dogs subdivided on the basis of lifetime gonadal hormone exposure. Bone sarcoma was diagnosed in 12.6% of dogs in this cohort during 71,004 dog-months follow-up. Risk for bone sarcoma was significantly influenced by age at gonadectomy. Male and female dogs that underwent gonadectomy before 1 year of age had an approximate one in four lifetime risk for bone sarcoma and were significantly more likely to develop bone sarcoma than dogs that were sexually intact [RR ±95% CI = 3.8 (1.5–9.2) for males; RR ±95% CI = 3.1 (1.1–8.3) for females]. χ2 test for trend showed a highly significant inverse dose-response relationship between duration of lifetime gonadal exposure and incidence rate of bone sarcoma (P = 0.008 for males, P = 0.006 for females). This association was independent of adult height or body weight. We conclude that the subset of Rottweiler dogs that undergo early gonadectomy represent a unique, highly accessible target population to further study the gene:environment interactions that determine bone sarcoma risk and to test whether interventions can inhibit the spontaneous development of bone sarcoma

The behavioral mechanisms of voluntary cooperation across culturally diverse societies: Evidence from the US, the UK, Morocco, and Turkey

We examine the role of cooperative preferences, beliefs, and punishments to uncover potential cross-societal differences in voluntary cooperation. Using one-shot public goods experiments in four comparable subject pools from the US and the UK (two similar Western societies) and Morocco and Turkey (two comparable non-Western societies), we find that cooperation is lower in Morocco and Turkey than in the UK and the US. Using the ABC approach – in which cooperative attitudes and beliefs explain cooperation – we show that cooperation is mostly driven by differences in beliefs rather than cooperative preferences or peer punishment, both of which are similar across the four subject pools. Our methodology is generalizable across subject pools and highlights the central role of beliefs in explaining differences in voluntary cooperation within and across culturally, economically, and institutionally diverse societies. Because our behavioral mechanisms correctly predict actual contributions, we argue that our approach provides a suitable methodology for analyzing the determinants of voluntary cooperation of any group of interest

A Study in Red: The Overlooked Role of Azo‐Moieties in Polymeric Carbon Nitride Photocatalysts with Strongly Extended Optical Absorption

The unique optical and photoredox properties of heptazine-based polymeric carbon nitride (PCN) materials make them promising semiconductors for driving various productive photocatalytic conversions. However, their typical absorption onset at ca. 430–450 nm is still far from optimum for efficient sunlight harvesting. Despite many reports of successful attempts to extend the light absorption range of PCNs, the determination of the structural features responsible for the red shift of the light absorption edge beyond 450 nm has often been obstructed by the highly disordered structure of PCNs and/or low content of the moieties responsible for changes in optical and electronic properties. In this work, we implement a high-temperature (900 °C) treatment procedure for turning the conventional melamine-derived yellow PCN into a red carbon nitride. This approach preserves the typical PCN structure but incorporates a new functionality that promotes visible light absorption. A detailed characterization of the prepared material reveals that partial heptazine fragmentation accompanied by de-ammonification leads to the formation of azo-groups in the red PCN, a chromophore moiety whose role in shifting the optical absorption edge of PCNs has been overlooked so far. These azo moieties can be activated under visible-light (470 nm) for H₂ evolution even without any additional co-catalyst, but are also responsible for enhanced charge-trapping and radiative recombination, as shown by spectroscopic studies