“Overbidding” with respect to risk-neutral Nash predictions in first-price auction experiments has been consistently reported in the literature. One possible explanation for overbidding is that participants in these experiments do not have a clear perception of probabilities, which causes...

Some problems are more easily solved if context is provided. A stylized result from beauty contest experiments is that most choices are consistent with level-1 or level-2 thinking rather than the Nash equilibrium. The beauty contest experiment reported in this paper includes treatments in which...

In a Bertrand-oligopoly experiment, firms choose whether or not to engage in cartel-like communication and, if so, they may get fined by a cartel authority. We find that the four-firm industries form cartels more often than the duopolies because they gain less from a hysteresis effect after...

We introduce a competitive framing in the mini-ultimatum game utilizing chess puzzles. Therein, our chess playing participants accept low offers significantly more often compared to a neutral framing. We conclude that in familiar competitive surroundings egoistic behavior is more acceptable.

Recent studies suggest that payoffs in cents, compared to dollars, produce less defection in a repeated prisoner’s dilemma game. We are unable to replicate these findings with conventional economic procedures or in a direct replication.

We experimentally study clock auctions to dissolve partnerships jointly owned by two players. Subjects are found to deviate systematically from the Nash equilibrium. We explain the bidding behaviour in terms of risk aversion and/or non-standard utility theory.

We explore the relationship between personal characteristics and the decision to lie to an anonymous partner in a cheap talk environment. We find that sex, age, grade point average, student debt, size of return, socioeconomic status, and average time spent in religious observation are not...

Socially destructive behavior in a public good environment–like damaging public goods–is an underexposed phenomenon in economics. In an experiment we investigate whether such behavior can be influenced by the very nature of an environment. To that purpose we use a Fragile Public Good (FPG)...

We study the impact of coupling a decision maker’s lottery payoffs to those of a peer on the preferred level of risk by means of a lab experiment. Compared to the benchmark where the lotteries are paid off individually, symmetrically coupled payoffs increase the willingness to take risks,...

Many randomized controlled trials require participants to opt in. Such self-selection could introduce a potential bias, because only the most optimistic may participate. We revisit this prediction. We argue that in many situations, the experimental intervention is competing with alternative...