Effects of Information on Intentionality Attributions and Judgments - Punishing Negligence and Praising the Caring for Information

Understanding how observers attribute intentionality to people in the focus of their attention helps in shedding light on punishment behavior. In this paper we approach impartial observers' attributions of intentionality and the attachment of praise and blame to perpetrators of external effects. In line with findings of Joshua Knobe (Knobe, 2003, 2006), we argue that intentionality attributions to these perpetrators are more likely, if observers consider the externality as morally bad instead of good. Due to this asymmetry, people punish the perpetrators of negative externalities more severely than they reward those of positive ones. In this paper we extend this explanation of the praise-blame bias by arguing that not only moral considerations but also the information setting of perpetrators of externalities are taken into account by observers. To that end, we analyze the answers to vignettes of 240 undergraduate students of Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. We take advantage of ordinary least square, logistic, and multinomial-logistic regression models to predict increases in chances to attribute intentionality and to attach praise or blame. We show that the awareness of, and the caring for, information related to the side effects of actions crucially affect the judgments of impartial observers.intentionality, externalities, punishment, praise, moral bias

Effects of information on intentionality attributions and judgments: Punishing negligence and praising the caring for information

Understanding how observers attribute intentionality to people in the focus of their attention helps in shedding light on punishment behavior. In this paper we approach impartial observers' attributions of intentionality and the attachment of praise and blame to perpetrators of external effects. In line with findings of Joshua Knobe (Knobe, 2003, 2006), we argue that intentionality attributions to these perpetrators are more likely, if observers consider the externality as morally bad instead of good. Due to this asymmetry, people punish the perpetrators of negative externalities more severely than they reward those of positive ones. In this paper we extend this explanation of the praise-blame bias by arguing that not only moral considerations but also the information setting of perpetrators of externalities are taken into account by observers. To that end, we analyze the answers to vignettes of 240 undergraduate students of Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. We take advantage of ordinary least square, logistic, and multinomial-logistic regression models to predict increases in chances to attribute intentionality and to attach praise or blame. We show that the awareness of, and the caring for, information related to the side effects of actions crucially affect the judgments of impartial observers

Occupations and Inequality: Theoretical Perspectives and Mechanisms

People’s occupations are strongly related to multiple dimensions of inequality, such as inequalities in wages, health, autonomy, or risk of temporary employment. The theories and mechanisms linking occupations to these inequalities are subject to debate. We review the recent evidence on the relationship between occupations and inequality and discuss the following four overarching theoretical perspectives: occupations and skills, occupations and tasks, occupations and institutions, and occupations and culture. We show that each perspective has strong implications for how scholars conceptualize occupations and which occupational characteristics are seen as relevant when explaining inequalities. Building on this, we review and critically examine the relevant theories related to and the mechanisms of the relationship between occupation and wage inequality, as an example. We conclude that there is sound empirical knowledge available on the relationships between occupations and inequality; however, some of the mechanisms are still unclear

Occupational Licensing and the Wage Structure in Germany

In order to work in licensed occupations, employees need permission from the state. For Germany, it remains unanswered why occupations become licensed and how licensing affects the wage structure. The article describes the institutional embeddedness of licensing in the German labor market. These institutions create barriers to entry and regulate prices of occupational tasks. By accounting for licensing and its accompanying institutions, the article shows licensing to generate a safety net effect rather than mere monopoly rents. Wage inequality is reduced as a consequence. Results from conditional and unconditional quantile regressions based on the BIBB-BAuA Employment Survey 2012 strongly support that view

Steigende Lohnungleichheit in Deutschland. Eine berufsspezifische Perspektive

In Deutschland wächst seit mehreren Jahrzehnten die Lohnungleichheit. Der Anstieg der Lohnungleichheit entspricht einer Aushöhlung der Lohnverteilung: Arbeitsplätze mit hohen und niedrigen Löhnen wurden aufgebaut und vor allem hohe Löhne sind gewachsen. Diese Aushöhlung folgt einem berufsspezifischen Muster. Im Artikel wird diskutiert, inwieweit der Wandel zu Dienstleistungsgesellschaften, der technologische Wandel und die Globalisierung sich für unterschiedliche Berufe verschieden ausgewirkt haben. Dabei spielen die Faktoren der Ersetzbarkeit der Berufsausübenden sowie die Stellung zur Wertschöpfung eine entscheidende Rolle

Lohnungleichheit durch soziale Schließung

Warum verdienen Arbeitnehmer in unterschiedlichen Berufen unterschiedlich viel Geld und warum erhöht sich die Lohnungleichheit in Deutschland immer mehr? Die Dissertation leistet einen Beitrag zur Beantwortung dieser Fragen, indem sie die Wirkung unterschiedlich starker Marktzutrittsbarrieren für unterschiedliche Berufe auf Löhne in Deutschland analysiert

The Long Road to Economic Independence of German Women, 1973 to 2011

Over the past few decades, women’s educational attainment and subsequent labor market participation have increased substantially in Germany. In comparison with these well-studied trends, little is known about changes in women’s contributions to couples’ joint income that may be associated with them. To address this question, the author provides a visualization of changes in the distribution of women’s income contributions in Germany from 1973 to 2011

The Optimality of Upgrade Pricing

We consider a multiproduct monopoly pricing model. We provide sufficient conditions under which the optimal mechanism can be implemented via upgrade pricing—a menu of product bundles that are nested in the strong set order. Our approach exploits duality methods to identify conditions on the distribution of consumer types under which (a) each product is purchased by the same set of buyers as under separate monopoly pricing (though the transfers can be different), and (b) these sets are nested. We exhibit two distinct sets of sufficient conditions. The first set of conditions is given by a weak version of monotonicity of types and virtual values, while maintaining a regularity assumption, i.e., that the product-by-product revenue curves are singlepeaked. The second set of conditions establishes the optimality of upgrade pricing for type spaces with monotone marginal rates of substitution (MRS)—the relative preference ratios for any two products are monotone across types. The monotone MRS condition allows us to relax the earlier regularity assumption. Under both sets of conditions, we fully characterize the product bundles and prices that form the optimal upgrade pricing menu. Finally, we show that, if the consumer’s types are monotone, the seller can equivalently post a vector of single-item prices: upgrade pricing and separate pricing are equivalent

Quantile regression estimands and models: revisiting the motherhood wage penalty debate

This paper discusses the crucial but sometimes neglected differences between unconditional quantile regression (UQR) models and quantile treatment effects (QTE) models. We argue that there is a frequent mismatch between the aim of the quantile regression analysis and the quantitative toolkit used in much of the applied literature, including the motherhood wage penalty literature. This mismatch may result in wrong conclusions being drawn from the data, and in the end, misguided theories. In this paper, we clarify the crucial conceptual distinction between influences on quantiles of the overall distributions, which we term population-level influences, and individual-level QTEs. Further, we use data simulations to illustrate that various classes of quantile regression models may, in some instances, give entirely different conclusions (to different questions). Finally, we compare quantile regression estimates using real data examples, showing that UQR and QTE models differ sometimes but not always. Still, the conceptual and empirical distinctions between quantile regression models underline the need to match the correct model to the specific research questions. We conclude the paper with a few practical guidelines for researchers