Excess entry, ambiguity seeking and competence: An experimental investigation

Excess entry refers to the high failure rate of new entrepreneurial ventures. Economic explanations suggest 'hit and run' entrants and risk-seeking behavior. A psychological explanation is that people (entrepreneurs) are overconfident in their abilities (Camerer & Lovallo, 1999). Characterizing entry decisions as ambiguous gambles, we alternatively suggest–following Heath and Tversky (1991)–that people seek ambiguity when the source of uncertainty is related to their competence. Overconfidence, as such, plays no role. This hypothesis is confirmed in an experimental study that also documents the phenomenon of reference group neglect. Finally, we emphasize the utility that people gain from engaging in activities that contribute to a sense of competence. This is an important force in economic activity that deserves more explicit attention.Competence, excess entry, entrepreneurship, overconfidence, Leex

Legitimate Punishment, Feedback, and the Enforcement of Cooperation

In real life, punishment is often implemented only insofar as punishers are entitled to punish and punishees deserve to be punished. We provide an experimental test for this principle of legitimacy in the framework of a public goods game, by comparing it with a classic (unrestricted) punishment institution. A significant advantage of our institution is that it rules out antisocial punishment, a phenomenon which recent studies document to play a key role in undermining the scope for self-governance. Our findings show that, despite the lack of additional monetary incentives to cooperate, the introduction of legitimate punishment leads to substantial efficiency gains, in terms of both cooperation and earnings. Therefore, in businesses and other organizations, this device could successfully deal with the principal-agent problem, with the principal delegating a task to a team of agents. Further, we interestingly find that removing the information over high contributors’ choices only leads to a dramatic decline in cooperation rates and earnings. This result implies that providing feedback over virtuous behavior is necessary to make an institution based on legitimate punishment effective.Experimental Economics, Public Good Games, Costly Punishment, Cooperation, Legitimacy, Immunity

Breakthrough innovations and welfare: The role of innovators' loss aversion and experience.

Technological refinements appears to be much more frequent than breakthrough innovations. We argue that this could be the result of an optimizing choice when the innovation revenues are exposed to Knightian uncertainty and innovators are loss-averse. The innovator's choice between breakthrough and incremental innovations is analyzed in the context of a neo-Schumpeterian growth model that accounts for the introduction of new goods and related sunk costs. The results show that the welfare generated by breakthrough innovations drops dramatically when agents are uncertainty-averse and/or loss-averse, but rises as innovators' experience increases.Incremental innovation, Breakthrough innovation, Uncertainty, Loss aversion, Experience

Trusting versus monitoring: an experiment of endogenous institutional choices

We investigate the problem of deciding between trusting and monitoring, and how this decision affects subsequent behavior, using a laboratory experiment where subjects choose between the Ultimatum and the Yes-No Game. Despite the similarity of the two games in Ultimatum Games responders monitor the allocation proposal, while in Yes-No games responders react without monitoring, i.e. have to rely on trust. We permit either the proposer or responder to make the game choice and analyze how both roles choose between trusting and monitoring, what the ensuing effects of their choices are, and how they vary depending on who has chosen the game. We, also, experimentally vary the cost of monitoring and the responder’s conflict payoff. Since monitoring is usually costly, the amount to share in Yes-No Games (YNG) can exceed that in Ultimatum Games (UG). Regarding the conflict payoff, it can be positive or negative with the former rendering Yes-No interaction a social dilemma. According to our results, proposers (responders) opt for trusting significantly more (less) often than for monitoring. Average offers are higher in Ultimatum than in Yes-No games, but neither UG nor YNG offers depend on who has chosen between games

Repensando a construção do corpo da bailarina da caixinha de música por meio de um processo de criação coletiva em uma ONG de Santa Maria – RS.

Este artigo propõe refletir sobre o processo de criação coletiva realizado pela Royale Companhia de Dança que, ao repensar a construção do corpo da bailarina da caixinha de música, procurou levar ao empoderamento feminino no balé ao construir um espetáculo sobre temas da contemporaneidade.Palavras – Chaves: Balé. Criação coletiva. Bailarina da caixinha de música

Biogenic amines degradation by Lactobacillus plantarum: toward a potential application in wine.

Biogenic amines in wine represent a toxicological risk for the health of the consumer, with several trade implications. In this study 26 strains of Lactobacillus plantarum were analysed for their ability to degrade biogenic amines commonly found during wine fermentation. Two strains of L. plantarum were selected in reason of their ability to degrade putrescine and tyramine. The degradation was assessed in vitro, both in presence of the biogenic amines and in presence of the specific chemical precursor and of producer bacteria. The two L. plantarum biotypes were found capable to work synergically. In addition, the survival in wine-like medium and the aptitude to degrade malic acid after alcoholic fermentation of the selected L. plantarum strains was analysed. Our results suggest the potential application of wine L. plantarum strains to design malolactic starter cultures able to degrade biogenic amines in wine

MicroRNA circolanti come biomarcatori per il diabete mellito di tipo 2: avanzamenti e prospettive future

Il diabete mellito di tipo 2 (DMT2) è una malattia metabolica cronica eterogenea in costante aumento. In questa rassegna, al fine di identificare un gruppo di microRNA (miRNA) con potenziale applicazione in clinica come biomarcatori per la diagnosi, prognosi e selezione di terapie personalizzate per i pazienti con DMT2, abbiamo effettuato una ricerca sistematica di letteratura, identificando e selezionando 10 miRNA (miR-126-3p, miR-223-3p, miR-21-5p, miR-15a-5p, miR-24-3p, miR-34a-5p, miR-146a-5p, miR-148a-3p, miR-30d-5p e miR-30c-5p)

Molecular and Technological Characterization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The characterization of autochthonous Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains is an important step towards the conservation and employment of microbial biodiversity. The utilization of selected autochthonous yeast strains would be a powerful tool to enhance the organoleptic and sensory properties of typical regional wines. In fact, indigenous yeasts are better tailored to a particular must and because of this they are able to praise the peculiarities of the derived wine. The present study described the biodiversity of indigenous S. cerevisiae strains isolated from natural must fermentations of an ancient and recently rediscovered Apulian grape cultivar, denoted as “Susumaniello.” The yeast strains denoted by the best oenological and technological features were identified and their fermentative performances were tested by either laboratory assay. Five yeast strains showed that they could be excellent candidates for the production of industrial starter cultures, since they dominated the fermentation process and produced wines characterized by peculiar oenological and organoleptic features