The Visible Hand: Finger Ratio (2D:4D) and Competitive Bidding

In an experiment using two-bidder first-price sealed bid auctions with symmetric independent private values and 400 subjects, we scan also the right hand of each subject. We study how the ratio of the length of the index and ring fingers (2D:4D) of the right hand, a measure of prenatal hormone exposure, is correlated with bidding behavior and total profits. 2D:4D has been reported to predict competitiveness in sports competition (Manning and Taylor, 2001, and Hoenekopp, Manning, and Mueller, 2006), risk aversion in lottery tasks (Dreber and Hoffman, 2007, Garbarino et al., 2010), and the average profitability of high-frequency traders in financial markets (Coates, Gurnell, and Rustichini, 2009). We do not find any significant correlation between 2D:4D on either bidding or profits. However, there might be racial differences in the correlation between 2D:4D and bidding and profits.Hormones, Digit ratio, 2D:4D, Risk behavior, Competition, Competitive behavior, Auctions, Bidding, Endocrinological economics

Menstrual cycle and competitive bidding

In an experiment using two-bidder first-price sealed bid auctions with symmetric independent private values, we collected information on the female participants' menstrual cycles. We find that women bid significantly higher than men in their menstrual and premenstrual phase but do not bid significantly different in other phases of the menstrual cycle. We suggest an evolutionary hypothesis according to which women are genetically predisposed by hormones to generally behave more riskily during their fertile phase of their menstrual cycle in order to increase the probability of conception, quality of offspring, and genetic variety. Our finding is in contrast to results by Chen, Katuscak and Ozdenoren (2005, 2009).hormones; menstrual cycle; gender; likelihood of conception; first price auction; risk behavior; competition; bidding; endocrinological economics

The Visible Hand: Finger ratio (2D:4D) and competitive behavior

In an experiment using two-bidder first-price sealed bid auctions with symmetric independent private values, we scan also the right hand of each subject. We study how the ratio of the length of the index and ring fingers (2D:4D) of the right hand, a measure of prenatal hormone exposure, is correlated with bidding behavior and total profits. 2D:4D has been reported to predict competitiveness in sports competition (Manning and Taylor, 2001, and Hoenekopp, Manning and Mueller, 2006), risk aversion in an investment task (Dreber and Hoffman, 2007), and the average profitability of high-frequency traders in financial markets (Coates, Gurnell and Rustichini, 2009). We do not find any significant correlation between 2D:4D and both bidding or profits. Yet, our study raises an issue of ethnic differences with respect to 2D:4D.hormones; digit ratio; 2D:4D; risk behavior; competition; competitive behavior; bidding; endocrinological economics

The Visible Hand: Finger Ratio (2D:4D) and Competitive Behavior

In an experiment using two-bidder first-price sealed bid auctions with symmetric independent private values, we scan also the right hand of each subject. We study how the ratio of the length of the index and ring fingers (2D:4D) of the right hand, a measure of prenatal hormone exposure, is correlated with bidding behavior and total profits. 2D:4D has been reported to predict competitiveness in sports competition (Manning and Taylor, 2001, and Honekopp, Manning and Muller, 2006), risk aversion in an investment task (Dreber and Hoffman, 2007), and the average profitability of high-frequency traders in financial markets (Coates, Gurnell and Rustichini, 2009). We do not find any significant correlation between 2D:4D and both bidding or profits. Yet, our study raises an issue of ethnic differences with respect to 2D:4D.Hormones, Digit ratio, 2D:4D, Risk behavior, Competition, Competitive behavior, Bidding, Endocrinological economics

A meta-analysis of COVID-19: Challenging Australias Vocational Education sector

With the advent of the digital age, vocational education and associated policy documents can create an awkward marriage for the student and educator. For the student, the move to an online platform of learning containing digital tools is more than just mastery of a program but requires support, to resolve the financial costs and connectivity issues associated with learning in isolation. For the educator, online platforms provide a challenge not only will they became a student to learn the new platform. The educator confronted with new or unfamiliar pedagogical practices vastly different from their past learning experiences. However, the digital divide is complexing with no one issue attributing or resolving the digital divide

When Cognitive Bias Masquerades as Intervention Efficacy: Drinking Norms as Anchors and Norm Interventions as Anchoring Effects

Problematic drinking is a serious public health concern on college campuses in the United States. College students most frequently report drinking for social reasons, and perceptions of peers\u27 drinking, or perceived drinking norms, are among the most consistent, robust predictors of college student drinking. Therefore, norm-based interventions have risen to prominence in the attempt to reduce the harm caused by college student alcohol use. However, the efficacy of these interventions may be obscured by cognitive bias. Specifically, providing information regarding the drinking norm may anchor individuals\u27 estimates of their own behavior. Using samples of college student drinkers, two studies were conducted to examine whether normative feedback serves as an anchor and biases one\u27s report of their behavior (norms as anchor hypothesis). In addition, the boundary conditions of this effect were examined. Specifically, it was examined whether the anchoring effect is attenuated or eliminated when participants are forewarned about the anchoring effect or when controlling for social desirability bias. Contrary to hypotheses, a robust anchoring effect was not found in Study 1 or Study 2. Given the lack of clarity provided by null results, these findings are interpreted cautiously. Methodological limitations are discussed in terms of how improvements can be made for future research and what the results signify for norm-based interventions

Fast Out-of-Core Sorting on Parallel Disk Systems

This paper discusses our implementation of Rajasekaran\u27s (l,m)-mergesort algorithm (LMM) for sorting on parallel disks. LMM is asymptotically optimal for large problems and has the additional advantage of a low constant in its I/O complexity. Our implementation is written in C using the ViC* I/O API for parallel disk systems. We compare the performance of LMM to that of the C library function qsort on a DEC Alpha server. qsort makes a good benchmark because it is fast and performs comparatively well under demand paging. Since qsort fails when the swap disk fills up, we can only compare these algorithms on a limited range of inputs. Still, on most out-of-core problems, our implementation of LMM runs between 1.5 and 1.9 times faster than qsort, with the gap widening with increasing problem size