When losses can be a gain. A large lab-in-the-field experiment on reference dependent forgiveness in Colombia
We test the effectiveness of two behaviorally inspired manipulations promoting forgiveness in a lab-in the-field experiment in Cali, Colombia. Offenders (mostly juvenile) can only participate in a restorative justice program if victims agree to forgive them and let them participate. In our experiment, 756 participants were recruited using a panel maintained by a large public […]
Social norms and dishonesty across societies
Much of the research in the experimental and behavioral sciences finds that stronger prosocial norms lead to higher levels of prosocial behavior. Here, we show that very strict prosocial norms are negatively correlated with prosocial behavior. Using laboratory experiments on honesty, we demonstrate that individuals who hold very strict norms of honesty are more likely […]
Self-Selection into corruption: Evidence from the lab
We study whether opportunities to extract rents in a job affect the type of individuals who are attracted to it in terms of their underlying integrity. We do so in a laboratory experiment in which participants choose between two contracts that involve different tasks. We experimentally introduce the possibility of graft in one of them […]
Renewable resource dynamics: A Web-based classroom experiment
The authors adapted a lab-in-the-field experiment emulating the dynamic extraction of a fishery to create a Web-based classroom experiment. The game includes a multi-player version analogous to an open access problem and a single-player version analogous to the social planner problem. This game is helpful in introductory microeconomics courses to teach about dominant strategies and […]
Price discrimination in informal labor markets in Bogotá: an audit experiment during the 2018 FIFA World Cup
We conducted an audit experiment to examine whether street vendors in Bogotá (Colombia) exert price discrimination based on buyers’ attributes, such as gender and nationality, and based on product characteristics, such as the increasing marginal valuation of items needed to complete a collection. We exploited the seasonal demand for album stickers related to the FIFA […]
Land division: A lab-in-the-field bargaining experiment
We design a framed bargaining experiment to explore how farmers allocate inherited land. In the experiment, two players with heterogeneous productivity inherit a land plot yielding a risky production, and some tokens to bargain over a land allocation. We conduct this experiment in Colombia with 256 participants from rural municipalities and 120 undergraduate students. Although […]
Intertemporal choice experiments and large-stakes behavior
Intertemporal choice experiments are increasingly implemented to make inference about discounting and marginal utility, yet little is known about the predictive power of resulting measures. This project links standard experimental choices to a consumption smoothing decision with large stakes — around 10% of annual income. In a sample of around 400 Guatemalan Conditional Cash Transfer […]
How long-duration kidnapping might have affected the preferences of FARC-EP operatives?
Based on the announcement of the FARC-EP or Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces – People’s Army, that will give up kidnapping and start a general agreement with the Colombian government for the termination of the Conflict in 2012, this paper examines how long-duration kidnapping might have affected some operatives’ preferences in the organization, reflected in a […]
How is the trade-off between adverse selection and discrimination risk affected by genetic testing? Theory and experiment
We develop a theoretical analysis of two widely used regulations of genetic tests, Disclosure Duty and Consent Law, and we run an experiment in order to shed light on both the take-up rate of genetic testing and on the comparison of policyholders’ welfare under the two regulations. Disclosure duty forces individuals to reveal their test […]
Extracting Low-Cost Signals of Perceived Quality Control in Community Pharmacies: A Simulated Client Study of Contraceptive Dispensing in Bogotá
We determine whether community pharmacies in Bogotá produce differential quality signals, and if they are related to an objective quality measure: the compliance with prescription rules. In this quantitative descriptive study, we use the simulated client methodology (N=298) to assess whether Bogota’s community pharmacies comply with prescription rules related to contraceptive medications. We find that […]