19 research outputs found
Performance pay, group selection and group performance
Within a laboratory experiment we investigate a principal-agent game in which agents may,
first, self-select into a group task (GT) or an individual task (IT) and, second, choose work
effort. In their choices of task and effort the agents have to consider pay contracts for both
tasks as offered by the principal. The rational solution of the game implies that contract
design may not induce agents to select GT and provide positive effort in GT. Furthermore it
predicts equal behavior of agents with different productivities. In contrast, considerations of
trust, reciprocity and cooperation â the social-emotional model of behavior â suggest that
contract design can influence the agentsâ willingness to join groups and provide effort. We
analyze the data by applying a two-step regression model (multinomial logit and tobit) and
find that counter to the rational solution, contract design does influence both, task selection
and effort choice. The principal can increase participation in work groups and can positively
influence group performance. Larger payment increases the share of socially motivated agents
in work groups. The selection effect is larger than the motivation effect
Cooperation in local and global groups
Multiple group memberships are the rule rather than the exception. Locally operating groups
frequently offer the advantage of providing social recognition and higher marginal benefits to
the individual, whereas globally operating groups may be more beneficial from a social
perspective. Within a voluntary contribution environment we experimentally investigate the
tension that arises when subjects belong to a smaller local and a larger global group. When
the global public good is more efficient individuals first attempt to cooperate in the global
public good. However, this tendency quickly unravels and cooperation in the local public
good builds up
Knowing the gap - intermediate information in tournaments
Intermediate information is often available to competitors in dynamic tournaments.
We develop two simple tournament models with two stages: one with intermediate information
on subjectsâ relative positions after the first stage, one without. In our
models, equilibrium behavior in both stages is not changed by intermediate information.
We test our formal analysis using data from laboratory experiments. We find no
difference between average first and second stage efforts. With intermediate information,
however, subjects adjust their effort to a higher extent. Subjects who lead tend
to lower their second stage effort, subjects who lag still try to win the tournament.
Overall, intermediate information does not endanger the effectiveness of rank-order
tournaments: incentives do neither break down nor does a rat race arise. We also
briefly investigate costly intermediate information
On the competition of asymetric agents
Rank-order tournaments are usually implemented in organizations to provide incentives for eliciting employeesâ
effort and/or to identify the agent with the higher ability, e.g. in promotion tournaments. We close a gap in the
literature by experimentally analyzing a ceteris paribus variation of the prize spread â being the major design
feature of tournaments â in a symmetric and an asymmetric setting. We find that effort significantly increases
with the prize spread as predicted by standard theory. However, only if the prize spread is sufficiently large weak
players competing against strong players strain themselves all the more and sorting of agents is feasible
Group reputations: an experimental foray
Often information structures are such that while individual reputation building is impossible
groups of agents would have the opportunity of building up a reputation. We experimentally
examine whether groups of sellers in markets that suffer from moral hazard are able to build
up reputations and, thus, avoid market breakdown. We contrast our findings with situations
where sellers alternatively can build up an individual reputation or where there are no
possibilities for reputation building at all. Our results offer a rather optimistic outlook on
group reputations. Even though sellers only receive some of the reputation benefits of
withstanding short-run incentives to exploit trust, they are able to overcome the dilemma and
successfully exploit the information structure
Pricing and trust
We experimentally examine the effects of flexible and fixed prices in markets for experience
goods in which demand is driven by trust. With flexible prices, we observe low prices and
high quality in competitive (oligopolistic) markets, and high prices coupled with low quality
in non-competitive (monopolistic) markets. We then introduce a regulated intermediate price
above the oligopoly price and below the monopoly price. In monopolies volume increases and
so does quality, such that overall efficiency is raised by 50%. Somewhat surprisingly, the
same pattern emerges in oligopolies. In fact, across all market forms transaction volume and
traded quality are maximal in regulated oligopolies
Competition fosters trust
We study the effects of reputation and competition in a stylized market for
experience goods. If interaction is anonymous, such markets perform poorly:
sellers are not trustworthy, and buyers do not trust sellers. If sellers are
identifiable and can, hence, build a reputation, efficiency quadruples but is still
at only a third of the first best. Adding more information by granting buyers
access to all sellersâ complete history has, somewhat surprisingly, no effect. On
the other hand, we find that competition, coupled with some minimal
information, eliminates the trust problem almost completely
Advances in Molecular Quantum Chemistry Contained in the Q-Chem 4 Program Package
A summary of the technical advances that are incorporated in the fourth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program is provided, covering approximately the last seven years. These include developments in density functional theory methods and algorithms, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) property evaluation, coupled cluster and perturbation theories, methods for electronically excited and open-shell species, tools for treating extended environments, algorithms for walking on potential surfaces, analysis tools, energy and electron transfer modelling, parallel computing capabilities, and graphical user interfaces. In addition, a selection of example case studies that illustrate these capabilities is given. These include extensive benchmarks of the comparative accuracy of modern density functionals for bonded and non-bonded interactions, tests of attenuated second order MĂžllerâPlesset (MP2) methods for intermolecular interactions, a variety of parallel performance benchmarks, and tests of the accuracy of implicit solvation models. Some specific chemical examples include calculations on the strongly correlated Cr2 dimer, exploring zeolite-catalysed ethane dehydrogenation, energy decomposition analysis of a charged ter-molecular complex arising from glycerol photoionisation, and natural transition orbitals for a Frenkel exciton state in a nine-unit model of a self-assembling nanotube
Software for the frontiers of quantum chemistry:An overview of developments in the Q-Chem 5 package
This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchangeâcorrelation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods include novel variants of both coupled-cluster and configuration-interaction approaches along with methods based on the algebraic diagrammatic construction and variational reduced density-matrix methods. Methods highlighted in Q-Chem 5 include a suite of tools for modeling core-level spectroscopy, methods for describing metastable resonances, methods for computing vibronic spectra, the nuclearâelectronic orbital method, and several different energy decomposition analysis techniques. High-performance capabilities including multithreaded parallelism and support for calculations on graphics processing units are described. Q-Chem boasts a community of well over 100 active academic developers, and the continuing evolution of the software is supported by an âopen teamwareâ model and an increasingly modular design