Intermediated Social Preferences: Altruism in an Algorithmic Era

What are the consequences of intermediating moral responsibility through complex organizations or transactions? This paper examines individual decision-making when choices are known to be obfuscated under randomization. It reports the results of a data entry experiment in an online labor market. Individuals enter data, grade another individual’s work, and decide to split a bonus. However, before they report their decision, they are randomized into settings with different degrees of intermediation. The key finding is that less generosity results when graders are told the split might be implemented by a new procurement algorithm. Those whose decisions are averaged or randomly selected among a set of graders are more generous relative to the asocial treatment. These findings relate to “the great transformation” whereby moral mentalities are shaped by modes of (a)social interaction

Why You Pay What You Pay at the Pump

This paper investigates several factors that strongly influence the day to day consumer price of Gasoline in America. This study incorporates existing information on the most likely variables that should influence gasoline prices from the beginning of 2006 to the very end of 2009. The study looks at contributing factors that include the average price of gasoline from the week before (pennies per gallon), the current weeks average oil price (Dollars per barrel), the previous weeks average oil price (Dollars per barrel), and the US production, and consumption of gasoline (1000 barrels per day). Using macro-level data from the US Department of Energy, the results suggest that factors like past gas price, oil price, and gasoline usage had positive relationships with gas price, while the previous weeks oil price and gasoline output had negative ones

Oral History Interview, Jason Orne (1197)

In this interview, Jason Orne talks about how when he was growing up he found himself attracted to other boys, but struggled to label his identity. He also discusses how after he eventually came out, he became involved in the queer communities and political activism at the University of Texas-Austin. To learn more about this oral history, download & review the index first (or transcript if available). It will help determine which audio file(s) to download & listen to.In his interview with Molly Kuhlman, Jason Orne discusses his sexuality and experiences as a gay youth and man. As a boy, Orne found himself attracted to other boys. He struggled, however, to label his sexual identity as a young man and sought answers to his questions about sex and life as a gay man in internet chatrooms. Orne recalls his coming out experiences, which ranged among friends and family members, and remembers what it was like to live as an out student in high school. He attended the University of Texas-Austin where he became involved in the queer community and political activism. His time at UT-Austin also included several serious relationships, which he details throughout the interview. Now a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Orne has less time for political involvement, but remains connected to the gay community