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Essays in Experimental Economics: Discrimination and Education
Kudashvili, Nikoloz ; Filer, Randall (advisor) ; Suetens, Sigrid (referee) ; Zafar, Basit (referee)
CERGE Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education Charles University Essays in Experimental Economics: Discrimination and Education Nikoloz Kudashvili Dissertation Prague, August 2022 Abstract In the first chapter, I study the sources of discrimination. Preference-based discrimination is usually deep-seated and takes a long time to be dealt with. By contrast, statistical discrimination can be eliminated or reduced in a relatively shorter period. The latter type of discrimination is based on stereotypes, which can be overcome by providing relevant information. I conduct a field experiment to measure the extent and nature of discrimination in the Georgian land market. The experiment is designed to uncover sources of statistical discrimination due to different beliefs about foreign investors. Discrimination is measured by the difference in price offers to foreign and Georgian investors. I find that the magnitude of discrimination shrinks significantly once foreign investors signal their willingness to search and pay the lease price in advance. This suggests that discrimination is largely driven by stereotypes about search costs and the payment reliability of foreign investors - leaving no or very little preference-based discrimination. Knowing the source of discrimination can be helpful to policy...
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Information, perceived returns and college major choices
Kudashvili, Nikoloz ; Todua, Gega
Students may hold inaccurate beliefs about earnings and employment opportunities when making their education decisions. This paper analyzes the effects of information provision on student’s intended and actual college major choices in Georgia. Secondary school students in our experiment systematically overestimated the earnings and unemployment rates of college graduates. We find that 10 percent more students who received information on actual earnings and unemployment changed their actual college major choices than others. The changes in their majors are partly driven by differences in the perceived and actual unemployment rates, whereas the earning differences do not appear to play a role. We also estimate spillover effects on students who do not receive information directly, and show that they matter, but only for older students who are closer to high school graduation. Importantly, we find that the immediate changes in the intended choices are not linked to the final major choices, suggesting that measuring the effects of information on immediately expressed intentions may not be sufficient to understand how information affects actual real-life decisions. We find that both direct and indirect information provision have sizable effects on student college major choices.
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Determinants of Economic Growth: A Bayesian Model Averaging
Kudashvili, Nikoloz ; Horváth, Roman (advisor) ; Havránek, Tomáš (referee)
MASTER THESIS Determinants of Economic Growth: A Bayesian Model Averaging Author: Bc. Nikoloz Kudashvili Abstract The paper estimates the economic growth determinants across 72 countries using a Bayesian Model Averaging. Unlike the other studies we include debt to GDP ratio as an explanatory variable among 29 growth determinants. For given values of the other variables debt to GDP ratio up to the threshold level is positively related with the growth rate. The coefficient on the ratio has nearly 0.8 posterior inclusion probability suggesting that debt to GDP ratio is an important long term growth determinant. We find that the initial level of GDP, life expectancy and equipment investments have a strong effect on the GDP per capita growth rate together with the debt to GDP ratio.
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Do minorities misrepresent their ethnicity to avoid discrimination?
Kudashvili, Nikoloz ; Lergetporer, P.
Discrimination against minorities is pervasive in many societies, but little is known about strategies minorities may apply to minimize discrimination. In our trust game with 758 highschool students in the country of Georgia, ethnic Georgian trustors discriminate against the ethnic Armenian minority group. We introduce an initial signaling stage to investigate Armenians’ willingness to hide their ethnicity to avoid expected discrimination. 43 percent of Armenian trustees untruthfully signal that they have a Georgian name. Signaling behavior is driven by expected transfers and non-pecuniary motives. This strategic misrepresentation of ethnicity increases Georgian trustors’ expected back transfers and eliminates their discriminatory behavior.\n
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Determinants of Economic Growth: A Bayesian Model Averaging
Kudashvili, Nikoloz ; Horváth, Roman (advisor) ; Havránek, Tomáš (referee)
MASTER THESIS Determinants of Economic Growth: A Bayesian Model Averaging Author: Bc. Nikoloz Kudashvili Abstract The paper estimates the economic growth determinants across 72 countries using a Bayesian Model Averaging. Unlike the other studies we include debt to GDP ratio as an explanatory variable among 29 growth determinants. For given values of the other variables debt to GDP ratio up to the threshold level is positively related with the growth rate. The coefficient on the ratio has nearly 0.8 posterior inclusion probability suggesting that debt to GDP ratio is an important long term growth determinant. We find that the initial level of GDP, life expectancy and equipment investments have a strong effect on the GDP per capita growth rate together with the debt to GDP ratio.
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