Trust and the Reference Point for Trustworthiness in Gulf and Western Countries

Why is private investment so low in Gulf compared to Western countries? We investigate cross-regional differences in trust and reference points for trustworthiness as possible factors. Experiments controlling for cross-regional differences in institutions and beliefs about trustworthiness reveal that Gulf citizens pay much more than Westerners to avoid trusting, and hardly respond when returns to trusting change. These differences can be explained by subjects' gain/loss utility relative to their region's reference point for trustworthiness. The relation-based production of trust in the Gulf induces higher levels of trustworthiness, albeit within groups, than the rule-based interactions prevalent in the West.

Compensating the cooperators: Is sorting in the prisoner's dilemma possible?

Choice between different versions of a game may provide a means of sorting, allowing players with different preferences to self-select into groups of similar types. We experimentally investigate whether auctioning off the right to play a prisoner's dilemma game in which the cost of unilateral cooperation is lower than in the status quo version separates (conditional) cooperators from money maximizers. After the auction, significantly more subjects cooperate in the modified PD than in the status quo PD whereas there is no difference between cooperation rates if the two versions of the game were assigned to participants. However, sorting is incomplete and cooperation deteriorates over time. The auction price does not correspond to the differences in expected values between the modified and the status quo game

Democracy by Competition: Referenda and Federalism in Switzerland

Competition is not only a prerequisite for the successful working of economics but also of political coordination systems. We argue that popular referenda and federalism are the key factors in maintaining competition in the political arena. Competitive economic or political markets require free entry and exit and the absence of regulations that prevent suppliers from being successful with the best product-be it goods or services in the form of policies-and prevent citizens from choosing freel

When Performance Trumps Gender Bias: Joint Versus Separate Evaluation

We examine a new intervention to overcome gender biases in hiring, promotion, and job assignments: an “evaluation nudge,” in which people are evaluated jointly rather than separately regarding their future performance. Evaluators are more likely to focus on individual performance in joint than in separate evaluation and on group stereotypes in separate than in joint evaluation, making joint evaluation the money-maximizing evaluation procedure. Our findings are compatible with a behavioral model of information processing and with the System 1/System 2 distinction in behavioral decision research where people have two distinct modes of thinking that are activated under certain conditions

Improving water quality in the wet tropics, Australia: a conceptual framework and case study

The Wet Tropics region of north Queensland contains the highest biological diversity in Australia, has outstanding environmental values, is economically important and located adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). Increasing urban development and agricultural intensification in the Wet Tropics has raised serious water quality concerns. To successfully achieve water quality improvement outcomes, the integration of social and biophysical knowledge, in particular clarifying the roles and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders for knowledge integration, has been identified as a key issue and research priority. However, research into the processes supporting knowledge integration and clarifying roles and responsibilities of multiple stakeholders for improving water quality is largely lacking. To fill this gap, we further developed and advanced a social-ecological planning framework to improve our understanding of how multiple-stakeholders can contribute to successful water quality management outcomes. Our conceptual framework, applied in the Tully basin adjacent to the GBR: (1) provides a transdisciplinary approach; (2) enhances the integration of social and biophysical knowledge through tailored methods fitting the local context; (3) shares knowledge and provides recommendations; (4) outlines factors that may promote or inhibit the implementation of freshwater quality objectives; (5) highlights inadequacies of existing government guidelines, policies, and presents co-management opportunities and (6) offers a novel collaborative approach supporting water quality improvement in the Wet Tropics of Australia and beyond

The Elasticity of Trust: How to Promote Trust in the Arab Middle East and the United States

To trust is to risk. When we lend someone money, we make ourselves vulnerable, hoping or expecting that the borrower will reward our trust and return the money at a later stage, possibly with interest or a reciprocal favor added. This paper examines whether willingness to trust follows the same logic, that is, whether it responds to changes in the expected value of trusting, much like willingness to take risk responds to changes in the expected value of risk taking in various countries of the Arab Middle East, namely, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and in the United States

Measuring Strategic Uncertainty in Coordination Games

Lecture on the first SFB/TR 15 meeting, Gummersbach, July, 18 - 20, 2004This paper explores predictability of behavior in coordination games with multiple equilibria. In a laboratory experiment we measure subjects' certainty equivalents for three coordination games and one lottery. Attitudes towards strategic uncertainty in coordination games are related to risk aversion, experience seeking, gender and age. From the distribution of certainty equivalents among participating students we estimate probabilities for successful coordination in a wide range of coordination games. For many games success of coordination is predictable with a reasonable error rate. The best response of a risk neutral player is close to the global-game solution. Comparing choices in coordination games with revealed risk aversion, we estimate subjective probabilities for successful coordination. In games with a low coordination requirement, most subjects underestimate the probability of success. In games with a high coordination requirement, most subjects overestimate this probability. Data indicate that subjects have probabilistic beliefs about success or failure of coordination rather than beliefs about individual behavior of other players

Does Increasing Farm Plot Size Influence the Visual Quality of Everyday Agricultural Landscapes?

peer reviewedThe increase in farm plot size is one of the most apparent and significant trends that have influenced central and eastern European agricultural landscapes since the 1950s. In many countries where the average plot size in traditional land-use systems did not exceed several hectares, present-day plots reach the size of 200 ha or more. In recent times, efforts have been made to reverse this trend to restore important ecosystem functions and to re-establish the aesthetic values of everyday landscapes. Visual landscape quality is becoming a major driving force in the development of agricultural landscapes with known effects on people's well-being and health, and this quality plays an increasingly important role in agricultural policies. However, no comprehensive research has been carried out to establish the links between perceived visual landscape quality and the scale of the farm plot pattern. The current study was therefore designed to determine whether greater farmland pattern heterogeneity, i.e., smaller farm plot sizes, is consistent with higher visual preferences. The results showed that people preferred a small-scale plot pattern in landscapes characterized by a flat relief and a low proportion of woody vegetation. These homogeneous landscapes were also overall considered significantly less beautiful than more diverse landscapes. However, even a moderate decrease in plot size notably improved these low beauty scores. These preferences were displayed consistently by all respondents, and most strongly by older respondents, respondents with a higher level of education, and those professionally engaged in landscape design or conservation. The high level of consensus among respondents in rejecting further land consolidation in homogeneous landscapes, which form a large proportion of European farmland, underlines that the results of this study provide a valid argument for discussing sustainable agricultural plot sizes as part of agricultural policy-making