While an influential body of economic literature shows that allowing for communication between firms increases collusion in oligopolies, so far we have only anecdotal evidence on the precise communication content that helps firms to coordinate their behavior. In this paper, we conduct a...

We examine the impact of a carbon tax on consumer choices via a large-scale online randomized controlled trial. Higher taxes generally reduce the demand for high-carbon goods. Compared to an import tax, a carbon tax reduces demand when the tax is zero (i.e., announced but not levied) but leads...

Developing reliable and practicable measures of economic preferences is a crucial task for empirical economic research with high value for both theory and applications. Here, we present results from a first comprehensive "behavioral validation analysis" of the Global Preference Survey Module...

Developing reliable and practicable measures of economic preferences is a crucial task for empirical economic research with high value for both theory and applications. Here, we present results from a first comprehensive “behavioral validation analysis” of the Global Preference Survey Module...

This study explores the preference for remote work by sending thousands of randomized messages to tutors advertising on an online platform across Greece. The messages requested either in-person or online tutoring. Requests for online lessons were roughly 50 percent more likely to receive a...

How does information transmission change when it requires attracting the attention of receivers? This paper combines an experiment that varies freelance professionals’ incentives to attract attention about scientific findings, with several online experiments that exogenously expose receivers...

There is a lack of understanding of what may drive gender disparities in healthcare utilization and outcomes. We present novel evidence on the impact of physician-patient gender match on healthcare quality using standardized patients (SPs) in an experiment, and collected interactions between SPs...

Despite growing evidence of gender disparities in healthcare utilization and health outcomes, there is a lack of understanding of what may drive such differences. We present novel evidence on the impact of physician-patient gender match on healthcare quality using the standardized patients (SPs)...

We study anchoring effects in the elicitation of multidimensional beliefs within a single survey task using a representative sample of the German voting-age population. Respondents estimated governmentspending levels across several domains (e.g., education, defense, social security), with...

We study anchoring effects in the elicitation of multidimensional beliefs within a single survey task using a representative sample of the German voting-age population. Respondents estimated government-spending levels across several domains (e.g., education, defense, social security), with...

We present an experimental test of a procedurally fair co-determination mechanism where group members reduce their value uncertainty before submitting bids for a joint project. The results suggest a relatively efficient mechanism, with unprofitable projects being largely rejected and profitable...

This paper experimentally investigates the relationship between an investor and a project manager. Project managers choose from a pool of projects, the success probabilities of which are uncertain. Investors can change projects, but also have to change project managers if they want to do so. An...

Extensive research has documented gender differences in the willingness to compete against others. Less attention has been given to situations where individuals must meet a standard of excellence to obtain rewards, such as promotions, grants, and publications. This paper investigates gender...

LLMs are emerging as information sources that influence organizational knowledge, though trust in them varies. This paper combines data from a large-scale experiment and the World Values Survey (WVS) to examine the determinants of trust in LLMs. The experiment measures trust in LLM-generated...

When communicating numeric estimates with policymakers, journalists, or the general public, experts must choose between using numbers or natural language. We run two experiments to study whether experts strategically use language to communicate numeric estimates in order to persuade receivers....

Rational choice theories assume that voters accurately assess the outcomes of policies. However, many important policies - such as regulating prices and introducing Pigouvian taxation - yield outcomes through indirect or equilibrium effects that may differ from their direct effects. Citizens may...

Employers use applicant signals to help solve an asymmetric information problem in organizations. In this paper, we examine the impact of validated Dark versus Light personality traits on incentivized behaviors important to organizations: task effort, honesty, and reciprocity. A second study...

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has made substantial progress, but its full capabilities remain unclear, and we still lack a comprehensive understanding of how people augment productivity with AI and perceive AI-generated outputs. This study compares the ability of AI to a representative...

Some researchers claim that a preference for wealth accumulation is the main cause of the long-run stagnation of the Japanese economy. A theoretical implication of people having such a preference is the widening of wealth inequality. We experimentally test this theoretical prediction by inducing...

Extending the power-to-take game, we explore the impact of two forces that may shape retaliation. In our 2x2 design, i) in addition to taking, the proposers can give part of their endowment to the responders, and ii) in addition to destroying their own endowment in retaliation, the responders...

An influential subset of the literature on distributional preferences studies how preferences condition on information about workers’ characteristics, such as their relative productivity. In this study we confirm that there are default effects when such conditional fair-ness preferences are...

We study the heterogeneity of preferences regarding the limited substitutability of environmental public goods vis-a-vis private consumption goods and how it affects the economic valuation of environmental public goods. We show theoretically that mean marginal willingness to pay for an...

Rational choice theories assume that voters accurately assess the outcomes of policies. However, many important policies—such as regulating prices and introducing Pigouvian taxation—yield outcomes through indirect or equilibrium effects that may differ from their direct effects. Citizens may...

Subjective performance evaluation is an important part of hiring and promotion decisions. We combine experiments with administrative data to understand what drives gender bias in such evaluations in the technology industry. Our results highlight the role of personal interaction. Leveraging...

In a democracy, it is essential that citizens accept rules and laws, regardless of which party is in power. We study why citizens in polarized societies resist rules implemented by political opponents. This may be due to the rules’ specific content, but also because of a general preference...

Many social ills can be modelled as a public bad. In such scenarios, private benefit is often immediate while the public damage takes some time to materialize. In this experiment, we investigate the behavioral effects caused by such delays in the realization of collective harm. By manipulating...

Efficient coordination is a major source of efficiency gains. We study in an experimental coordination game with 718 children and teenagers, aged 9 to 18 years, the strategies played in pre-adulthood. We find no robust age effects in the aggregate, but see that smaller group sizes and larger...

Efficient coordination is a major source of efficiency gains. We study in an experimental coordination game with 718 children and teenagers, aged 9 to 18 years, the strategies played in pre-adulthood. We find no robust age effects in the aggregate, but see that smaller group sizes and larger...

In a democracy, it is essential that citizens accept rules and laws, regardless of which party is in power. We study why citizens in polarized societies resist rules implemented by political opponents. This may be due to the rules' specific content, but also because of a general preference...

Efficient coordination is a major source of efficiency gains. We study in an experimental coordination game with 718 children and teenagers, aged 9 to 18 years, the strategies played in pre-adulthood. We find no robust age effects in the aggregate, but see that smaller group sizes and larger...

In an experiment on the large language model GPT-4o, a supplier always makes a higher profit if it replaces uniform contract terms with a set of terms between which the customer may choose. The extra profit results from price discrimination. There is a first order and a second order effect. The...