RePEc: Research Papers in Economics
Research Papers in Economics is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in many countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics.
QuBE Working Papers
2015
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#034Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- C91, D03, D90
- Keywords:
- time preference, discounted utility, instantaneous utility, choice list
Recent developments in the experimental elicitation of time preference
This methodological survey reviews recent developments in the design of experiments to elicit individuals' time preferences, with a focus on the measurement or control for potentially non-linear utility. While the objective of a time preference experiment is usually to estimate parameters of a discount function, assumptions concerning the nature of utility may have an important influence upon these estimates. The survey classifies experiment designs on two dimensions: whether they assume an equivalence between utility under risk and over time, and whether they result in an estimate of the curvature of utility.
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#033Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- C91, D81
- Keywords:
- ambiguity aversion, decision under uncertainty, Ellsberg experiments
Ambiguity aversion is the exception
An extensive literature has studied ambiguity aversion in economic decision making, and how ambiguity aversion can account for empirically observed violations of expected utility-based theories. Almost all relevant applied models presume a general dislike of ambiguity. In this paper, we provide a systematic experimental assessment of ambiguity attitudes in different likelihood ranges and in the gain domain, the loss domain and with mixed outcomes. We draw on a unified framework with more than 500 participants and find that ambiguity aversion is the exception, not the rule. We replicate the usual finding of ambiguity aversion for moderate likelihood gains. However, when introducing losses or lower likelihoods, we observe either ambiguity neutrality or even ambiguity seeking behavior. Our results are robust to different elicitation procedures.
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#032Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- D20; O30
- Keywords:
- Innovation; Scientific Collaboration; Team Formation; Nobel Laureates
The First Cut is the Deepest: Repeated Interactions of Coauthorship and Academic Productivity in Nobel Laureate Teams
Despite much in-depth investigation of factors influencing this evolution in various scientific fields, our knowledge about how efficiency or creativity is linked to the longevity of collaborative relationships remains very limited. We explore what Nobel laureates' coauthorship patterns reveal about the nature of scientific collaborations looking at the intensity and success of scientific collaborations across fields and across laureates' collaborative lifecycles in physics, chemistry, and physiology/medicine. We find that more collaboration with the same researcher is actually no better for advancing creativity: publications produced early in a sequence of repeated collaborations with a given coauthor tend to be published better and cited more than papers that come later in the collaboration with the same coauthor. Thus, our results indicate that scientific collaboration involves conceptual complementarities that may erode over a sequence of repeated interactions.
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#031Download full text
- JEL-Codes:
- J01, J15, J44
- Keywords:
- alphabetic order effect, citations, coauthorships, endogenous teams, contests
Endogenous selection into single and coauthorships by surname initials in economics and management
Many prior studies suggest that alphabetic ordering confers professional advantages on authors with earlier surname initials. However, these studies assume that authors select into coauthorships without regard to the incentives identified. We consider the alternative and develop a model of endogenous selection into single and coauthorships for economics, which uses alphabetical ordering. We then tested it with authorship data from economics, with management (which does not use alphabetical ordering) as a benchmark. We predicted that lower "quality" authors with earlier surnames would be less desirable as coauthors, while higher quality authors with later surnames would have a lower desire to coauthor. Both types of authors are therefore more likely to single author. Furthermore, higher quality authors with earlier surnames should have more and better coauthoring options. Consistent with our predictions, we found citation ranks were increasing on surnames for single-authored works and decreasing for coauthored in economics, both absolutely and compared to management. Also as predicted, this effect is driven by lower-tier journals in which there is likely a thinner market for coauthors. Furthermore, comparing citation ranks of first-authors of alphabetical and nonalphabetical papers shows that the "larger share" effect of being first is dominated by the "smaller pie" effect of selection from second authors who will accept a smaller share.
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#030Download full text
- Keywords:
- Daylight saving time, Risk-taking behaviour, Cognitive performance, Field experiment
The Implications of Daylight Saving Time: A Field Experiment on Cognitive Performance and Risk Taking
To explore the effects of daylights saving time (DST) transition on cognitive performance and risk-taking behaviour immediately before and one week after the shift to DST, this study examines two Australian populations living in similar geographic surroundings who experience either no DST transition (Queensland) or a one-hour DST desynchronization (New South Wales). This exogenous variation creates natural control (QLD) and treatment (NSW) groups that enable isolation and identification of the DST transition's effect on the two outcome variables. Proximity to the border ensures similar socio-demographic and socio-economic conditions and thus permits comparison of the cognitive performance and risk-taking behaviour of affected versus unaffected individuals. The results suggest that exposure to the DST transition has no significant impact on either cognitive performance or risk-taking behaviour.
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#029Download full text
- Keywords:
- Month of birth; Non-cognitive skills; Risk preferences; Self-confidence; Professional aspirations
The older the bolder? Does relative age among peers influence children's confidence and risk attitudes?
Relative age at school has been found to have long lasting consequences on a wide range of economic and social outcomes. We investigate the roots of these differences and study whether the relative age position of children at school plays a role in shaping their behavioural traits. We run a controlled experiment in high schools across two states in Australia. More than 600 students who are the very oldest or very youngest in their classroom participated. We elicit their preferences for competition, overconfidence, risk and ambiguity aversion, and professional aspirations. Overall, we find only mild evidence of an effect of relative age on the traits investigated.