Participation and Decision Making: A Three-person Power-to-take Experiment

It is often conjectured that participatory decision making may increase acceptance even of unfavorable decisions. The present paper tests this conjecture in a three-person power-to-take game. Two takers decide which fraction of the responder's endowment to transfer to themselves; the responder decides which part of the endowment to destroy. Thus, the responder can punish greedy takers, but only at a cost to herself. We modify the game by letting the responder participate in takers' transfer decision and consider the effect of participation on the destruction rate. We nd that participation matters. Responders destroy more if they (1) had no opportunity to participate in the decision making process and (2) are confronted with highly unfavorable outcomes. This participation eect is highly signicant for those responders (the majority) who show negative reciprocity (i.e., destroy more when takers are greedier).fairness, participatory decision making, power-to-take game, procedural fairness, reciprocity

Experiential Learning with Experiments

This paper discusses the implementation of experiential learning techniques in a behavioural economics class. In order to deepen students' understanding of both behavioural economics and the experimental approach to research students in the course developed and conducted variants of economic experiments. We believe that the process of designing and implementing the experiments fostered a better understanding of the material than simply participating in classroom experiments would have done. Students worked in small groups to develop their versions of the experiments. Thus, the complete process promoted genuine active learning by engaging the students both individually and collectively.

Meaningless work threatens job performance

It causes anger and disappointment, and can negatively affect employees' later motivation, write Adrian Chadi, Sabrina Jeworrek and Vanessa Mertin

Das Marktexperiment mit großen Teilnehmergruppen

Volkswirtschaftliche Einführungsveranstaltungen setzen zunehmend auf ökonomische Lehrexperimente, um Studienanfängern den inhaltlichen Einstieg in wirtschaftliche Zusammenhänge zu erleichtern. Marktexperimente gelten weithin als zentrale Einstiegsexperimente, die - wie nahezu alle Lehrexperimente - für kleine Studentengruppen entwickelt wurden. Im Beitrag wird gezeigt, wie dieses und ähnliche Experimente durch Anpassungen auch in Veranstaltungen mit sehr großen Teilnehmerzahlen sinnvoll eingesetzt werden können. Grundlage dieser Weiterentwicklung sind Erfahrungen, die auf der Experimentumsetzung an der Universität des Saarlandes in drei Semestern beruhen. 18.02.2007 | Henrik Egbert & Vanessa Mertins (Saarbrücken

Problemorientiertes Lernen durch Experimententwicklung - Das Beispiel eines Seminars "Experimentelle Ökonomie und Vertrauen"

Der vorliegende Text fokussiert die Umsetzung des problemorientierten Lernens im Rahmen eines wirtschaftswissenschaftlichen Seminars. Wir geben unsere Erfahrung aus einer Hauptstudiumsveranstaltung Experimentelle Ökonomie wieder. Ziel der Veranstaltung war die Vertiefung ausgewählter verhaltensökonomischer Themen sowie das Erlernen der experimentellen Methode. Wir zeigen, dass Studenten in der Lage sind, eigenständig Variationen von ökonomischen Experimenten zu entwickeln und umzusetzen. Dadurch finden sie einen besseren inhaltlichen Themenzugang als bei herkömmlichen Lehrexperimenten; gleichzeitig werden sie für ökonomische Experimente sensibilisiert. Außerdem erweitern die Studenten ihre Handlungs- und sozialen Kompetenzen, weil sie ihre Fähigkeit zur eigenverantwortlichen Bearbeitung komplexer Probleme innerhalb einer Gruppenstruktur schulen. 02.01.2008 | Henrik Egbert (Gießen) & Vanessa Mertins (Saarbrücken

Risk-sorting and preference for team piece rates

Incentive schemes not only influence the effort provision of workers, but might also induce sorting. As drivers of self-selection, the literature mainly focuses on measures of productivity; however, other variables, such as preferences, beliefs and personality, also play a role. With this paper, we contribute to the literature on drivers of self-selection by analyzing the role of perceived wage risks as potential influences on the sorting decision. To this end, we study a sorting decision between two variable compensation systems, where both options carry wage risks. Specifically, we look at sorting between individual piece rates and team piece rates. Using experimental data, we find evidence for both risk diversification considerations and free-riding concerns (i.e., risk of teaming-up with low-productive teammates) as drivers of self-selection. However, our data does not support the concern of our experimental subjects that others actually reduce their effort when working under team compensation, as compared to individual-based compensation

ALZHEIMER E SUA RELAÇÃO COM A DEMÊNCIA NA POPULAÇÃO IDOSA

Este artigo procurou apresentar as informações relacionadas ao desenvolvimento e progressão da demência a partir do Alzheimer em idosos, assim como os tratamentos para controle de sintomas e melhoria da qualidade de vida. Realizamos nossa pesquisa através da leitura de artigos e periódicos. Através dos mesmos, encontramos informações mostrando que o desenvolvimento da doença está relacionado a fatores genéticos e ambientais além do fato de a incidência variar em determinados locais do mundo, assim como são diferentes os sinais em determinados pacientes e, também, diferem nas fases da doença. Além disso, quais os cuidados que devem ser tomados pelos cuidadores dos indivíduos com DA e como o estilo de vida dos indivíduos pode afetar no desenvolvimento ou não da doença

The effects of Procedures on Social Interaction: A Literature Review

While economists have neglected procedures for a long time, other social scientists early established a substantial research program. By now, there exists a large gap between a sheer bulk of empirical, experimental, and theoretical studies by non-economists and the fact that there is hardly any economic research on procedures. We argue that due to clear evidence for procedures in uencing human decision-making, economists can not remain silent about procedural aspects of strategic interactions any longer. There is an important research agenda to be developed. This survey article is intended to discuss an important approach by which the standard economic model, which is based on consequentialist preferences, needs to be enriched: not only outcomes shape human behavior but also the way in which decisions are taken. Behavioral economics may serve as an important link. Its aim is to integrate insights of cognitive and social psychologists as well as experimental economists with neoclassical economic theory. We argue that experimental economics should increase its efforts to identify procedural effects and that these experiments should be more incorporated in the theoretical literature as part of an ongoing dialogue between theorists and experimentalists. Among procedural aspects, procedural fairness suggests itself to become an integrative part. To highlight the need for rethinking the standard economic approach we review social science literature on procedural effects, with a special focus on experimental economics and inspired theory-building.