Behavioural W9 Flashcards
What are the challenges that BEE bring for policymaking
- Prices don’t always work as we would expect.
- Information avoidance.
- People fail to act in their best interest.
- People act irrationally.
What are the opportunities that BEE brings for policymaking
- Improved policy effectiveness.
- Nudging towards desired outcomes.
- Promote public well-being.
What are the differences between a conventional lab experiment and a framed field experiment?
- Setting - controlled environment vs real-world setting.
- Level of control - lab more controlled.
- Generalisability - field better external validity.
What is the prediction of Slovic’s psychic numbing account
An additional life saved is worth less.
1. Affect Heuristic - affective responses occur rapidly and automatically.
2. Role of attention - attention is greater for individuals, so more likely to act.
3. Identifiable victim effect.
What does the experimental evidence tell us about the underlying motivation for giving in
charitable donation settings? Select one paper we looked at in the videos and outline its approach and key findings.
Landry et al (2006).
Large scale field study of what makes door-to-door charity asks successful.
Find that the type of donation (lottery vs voluntary contributions) matters.
Find that a one-standard deviation increase in female solicitor physical attractiveness is similar to that of the lottery incentive.
Why do we fail to act on climate change
- Time preferences - cost of mitigation is immediate yet the benefits are long-term.
- Uncertainty - losses are known but the benefits are unknown.
- Social norms - the norm of environmentally friendly behaviour has not been fully established.
- Public good problems - incentive to free-ride the mitigation actions.
Describe gamification and an example
A partial solution to climate change limited action. Singapore introduced a policy: reduce demand for peak hour travel and encourage the use of
more sustainable modes of travel by using a points system.
What is contingent valuation and give an application
CV is a method of estimating the value that a person places on a good, which can then be aggregated to
reveal the overall societal value. This can be willingness to pay or willingness to accept. Eg: environmental valuation.
What is the role of experimental economics in the VSL
- Testing methodologies.
- Understanding risk preferences.
- Assessing policy implications.
Outline the key critiques of the SWB approach
- Subjective.
- Incompleteness - may not capture all of the factors.
- External validity - may lack validity across different populations and cultures.
What are nudges
Ways of influencing choice without limiting the choice set: No one is forced to do anything. Follows the Libertarian paternalism psychology.
What is libertarian paternalism
Attempts to both change behaviour and respect freedom of choice.
Thaler and Sunstein (2003) defend Libertarian Paternalism by saying what
- There is no ‘neutral’ options so paternalism can’t be avoided.
- Paternalism doesn’t have to involve coercion.
- Adherence to the Rawlsian publicity principle.
What are the types of nudges
- Depending on behaviour duration - one-shot, repeated behaviours for a duration or repeated behaviours forever.
- Individual’s control.
- Depending on the system they’re tackling - system 1 vs system 2.
What are Cialdini’s 6 principles of persuasion
- Reciprocity.
- Scarcity - limited-time offers.
- Authority - policemen.
- Commitment and consistency.
- Liking - more likely to say yes to people you know and like.
- Consensus - people do what others are doing like laughing at a joke.
