The crowding-out effect of formal insurance on informal risk sharing: An experimental study

This paper investigates the crowding-out effect of formal insurance on informal risk-sharing arrangements via theory and laboratory experiment. Our model and simulation predict that the crowding out of private transfers is often more than one-for-one and will reduce the total risk coverage. Furthermore, the existence of a moderate degree of altruism exaggerates the crowding-out effect, especially when there is an ex-ante income inequality. These predictions are mostly supported by the laboratory experiment, except that the crowding-out effect is not more than one-for-one, and hence the total risk coverage is not significantly reduced by formal insurance.     

Other‐Centered Behavior and The Dialectics of Self and Other

The social sciences in general and consumer research in particular have been detrimentally hampered by the presumption of self‐interest as an exclusive foundation of human behavior. As a result, conduct that fails to conform to the self‐interest paradigm has often been ignored, or worse, grossly twisted to fit the dominant categorizations. This article attempts to revisit the self‐interest assumption and renegotiate the subsequent interpretations of other‐centered behavior. An open dialogue concerning these pressing issues involves investigating the fundamental conceptions of self, other, and identity. Such a discussion enables a critical review of existing consumer research of other‐centered behavior and invites new lines of consumer research. More important, it compels one to openly consider the place of self/other relationship in contemporary consumer culture(s).     

医疗决策情景下医生利他性测量的实验经济学研究

随着实验经济学、行为博弈论的发展,传统经济学中的自利假设受到利他倾向的挑战。利他性在医疗决策中体现为医生行为偏离个人利益最大化,关注患者健康福利,被认为是医生绩效和医疗服务质量的关键决定因素之一,对公益性导向和满足社会公众利益最大化目标的落实具有重要意义。但是利他性难以测量影响了对医生利他性的研究和有效激励机制的建立。本研究基于显示偏好原理并采用独裁者博弈为基础设计的受控实验室实验模拟医生医疗决策情景,根据医生决策结果,分别基于医生效用函数计算和运用随机效用模型估算医生的利他性。结果显示医生决策过程中对患者健康效益给予了正向权重。医生的利他性存在异质性。基于医生效用函数计算的利他性均值为0.82,表明医生对患者健康效益的权重为82%。96%的医生利他性大于0.5,50%的医生利他性大于0.85。运用随机效用模型估算的利他性(患者健康效益与医生利润的边际替代率)为1.078>1,49%的医生边际替代率大于1,说明相比个人利益医生更加重视患者健康效益。两种方法下测量的利他性显著正相关(Spearman’s ρ=0.715, p<0.001)。提示本研究应用的医疗决策情景下利他性的测量方法可实现医生利他性的量化,基于两种方法测量的医生利他性可以相互印证。     

Volunteer tourists in the field: A question of balance?

This paper is based on a study of volunteering at a children’s refuge in Mexico. This study explored the relationship between volunteers, their volunteering experiences and the behaviour that resulted. The study findings revealed volunteers were provided with the opportunity to make a positive contribution to the every-day lives of the children at the children’s home. However the findings also demonstrated that the volunteering experience consisted of much more than just the work duties carried out there, as volunteers also undertook tourist activities. Living in shared accommodation in walking distance from the busy tourist resort of Puerto Vallarta, the volunteers were faced with the difficult task of balancing commitment to their work duties at the children’s home with the lure of more hedonistic pursuits. This balancing act raises questions about the management of volunteer tourists.     

Why do people rate? Theory and evidence on online ratings

The rapid growth of online retail in the last decade has led to widespread use of consumer-generated ratings. This paper theoretically and experimentally identifies influences that drive consumers to rate products and examines how those factors can create distortions in product ratings. By manipulating payoffs and effectively “deactivating” either the buyer or seller side of an artificial laboratory market, raters' behavior is decomposed into buyer-centric and seller-centric components. The cost of providing a rating also plays a major role in influencing rating behavior, with high and low quality sellers being rated more often than those of moderate quality.     

Altruistic behavior in a representative dictator experiment

We conduct a representative dictator game in which students and random members of the community choose both what charity to support and how much to donate to the charity. We find systematic differences between the choices of students and community members. Community members are much more likely to write in their own charity, community members donate significantly more ($17), on average, and community members are much more likely (32%) to donate the entire $100 endowment. Based on this evidence, it does not appear that student behavior is very representative in the context of the charitable donations and the dictator game.

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Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article () contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.      

Coevolution of economic behaviour and institutions: towards a theory of institutional change

Traditionally, economics has regarded institutions, notably norms and regulations, as fixed or exogenous. Surprisingly few insights on institutional evolution from natural and social sciences have made their way into economics. This article gives an overview of evolutionary theories of institutions in biology, sociology, anthropology and economics. These theories are subsequently compared with non-evolutionary theories of institutions. Next, the insights and approaches are integrated into a framework for analysis of institutions based on the notion of coevolution.JEL Classification: B52, D10, D70, D64, Z13J.C.J.M. van den Bergh     

作为内生偏好的利他行为及其经济学意义

现代经济学与现代生物学对人性的看法相当一致,都把自利看作人类行为的基本前提。但来自桑塔费学派的最新研究证明,在人类进化的早期阶段,利他行为作为社会规范内部化的产物,在维持个人之间的合作劳动、有效提高族群生存竞争能力方面,具有不可替代的重要作用。我们在ESS(即“进化稳定策略”)基础上提出一个演化均衡模型,进一步解释了利他行为的进化优势以及合作剩余导致利他偏好内生的机制。     

大陆非营利组织所得税税收制度建设研究——基于海峡两岸的比较

诸多历史原因导致海峡两岸非营利组织税制存在差异。通过对海峡两岸的比较发现，大陆非营利组织所得税税收制度的建设，仍然要坚持严格的征收管理，构建积极鼓励与消极抑制双管齐下的税收政策，引导非营利组织的健康发展。要对公益性非营利组织重点扶持；在禁止利润分配的原则下，对相关性收入不征税；加大捐赠税收政策的激励，优化纳税服务；对关联交易进行规制，对利益冲突交易征收惩罚性税收；加大信息披露力度，强化监管责任。     

Return of the lost letter: Experimental framing does not enhance altruism in an everyday context

Debate surrounds interpretation of prosocial behavior in experimental games. Skeptics of the thesis that evolution produced a propensity for noncontingent altruism speculate that such results reflect the presence of information suggesting reputational consequences, including awareness that one is participating in an experiment. To examine the effects on prosocial behavior of awareness that research is being conducted, return rates were measured on ‘lost’ envelopes, some of which carried the message that they were dropped as part of an investigation. Return rates were not enhanced by such messages, indicating that awareness that one is in an experiment does not increase prosocial behavior.