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Risk Analysis in Relation to Various Types of Economic Experiments
Šikula, Pavel ; Škapa, Stanislav (referee) ; Janíček, Přemysl (advisor)
The diploma thesis deals with analysis of risks in relation to various focus (or types) of economic experiments. On the basis of background research suggests entirely new classification of economic experiments and subsequently examines general structure of economic experiment. Performed analysis then identifies major risks of experimental economics, analyses them and proposes possible countermeasures. Outputs of the work substantially enrich and extend current theory. Their utilization is expected in theory and practice, for purpose of scientific research or specific objectives of companies and institutions.
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Experimental Testing of Game-Theoretic Predictions: The Ultimatum Game
Matysková, Ludmila ; Gregor, Martin (advisor) ; Melikhova, Oksana (referee)
This thesis focuses on testing of game theoretical predictions in the ultimatum game by means of controlled experiments. This game has become one of the most scrutinized games from the area of bargaining game theory. The theoretical division of the reward, which the players bargain over, is such that one player gets virtually all the reward while the second player is left with nothing. Because of such an extreme division of the reward, the game represents a severe test for the theory. In fact, experimental results do not confirm to the theory. This thesis provides a survey of the experimental studies investigating different aspects that may affect the subjects' behavior in the game. Furthermore, some possible explanations for why the theoretical solution is not observed to be played by the subjects in the laboratory are presented. I show several new models, which try to capture the real nature of the subjects' behavior in the game. I also focus on the proposers' behavior from the income-maximizing point of view if the distribution of the responder's minimum acceptance thresholds is known to them. Outline of a new experiment examining such behavior is then presented.
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Do Information Cascades Arise Easier under Time Pressure? Experimantal Approach.
Cingl, Lubomír ; Bauer, Michal (advisor) ; Pertold, Filip (referee)
Information cascades as a form of rational herding help to explain real-life phenomena such as fads, fashion, creation of 'bubbles' in financial markets or conformity in general. In this paper I attempt to model propensity to herd and infer its relationship to time-pressure by conducting a laboratory experiment. I let subjects perform a simple cognitive task under different treatment conditions and levels of time pressure with the possibility to herd. The order of decision-making is endogenous and the task is not probabilistic. Rather, I impose uncertainty of private signal by different levels of time pressure. This is expected to make participants prone to imitate the behavior of others. Apart from that I examine the effect of reputation (also called endorsement effect) as an addition to the public pool of information, which is expected to increase the probability to herd. The main findings are that propensity to herd was not significantly influenced by different levels of time pressure. Information cascades arose, but never in a perfect form. Personality traits measured by the Big Five protocol contribute considerably to the explanation of the model, but their relationship is not straightforward. Heart-rate increased during performance of a task, but was not correlated to subjectively stated...
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Prioritized examination and its impact on commercialization of patents
Hrendash, Taras
Patents play an important role in facilitating transfers of knowledge, and enable commercialization of innovative ideas by reducing information asymmetry between potential buyers and sellers on the market for technology. The crucial question, however, is how quickly innovative ideas can be patented. Previous research has shown that the probability of commercialization for pending\napplications peaks immediately after the patent allowance event (Gans, Hsu & Stern, 2008). But does the length of pendency of an application at a patent office also affect the overall saleability of a technology and create some frictions on the market for technology? In this paper, we exploit the introduction of the USPTO’s Prioritized Examination (Track One) Program to capture the impact of shortened pendency on the likelihood that a pending or granted patent will be commercialized via the transfer of property rights. Using the differencein-differences approach, we compare the average saleability of patents, which we assign into three groups according to their predicted propensity for prioritization before and after the program start date. We find that introduction of the Track One program has significantly increased the probability of commercial reassignment of applications that were more likely to be prioritized. Our results suggest that the policy implemented by the USPTO and shortened pendency of applications, in general, may reduce frictions on the market for technology and facilitate commercialization of innovations.
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Fairness and Emotions in the Ultimatum Game: Experimental Approach
Fedosová, Polina ; Korbel, Václav (advisor) ; Votápková, Jana (referee)
This bachelor thesis examines the role of emotions in the decision-making process by making individuals treated unfairly. We conducted a simple Ultimatum Game and measured emotional responses of Responders when the offer is displayed. We found significant positive relationship between the offer and intensity of neutrality and surprise experienced by Responders and significant negative effect of offer on intensity of experienced anger and disgust was detected. Further examination also indicated significant negative relationship between the action taken by Responders (rejecting or accepting the offer) and intensity of experienced anger leading us to the conclusion about the correlation between this emotion and rejection. The analysis is also complemented by validation that behavior of our sample in the Ultimatum Game follows the robust behavioral pattern (frequent rejection of positive but low offers) in this experimental game. Keywords fairness, emotions, Ultimatum Game, FaceReader, experiment
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Irrationality of consumer choice and the effect of nudging decision-making: A field experiment on tipping
Alferovičová, Marija ; Korbel, Václav (advisor) ; Gregor, Martin (referee)
Ekonomy i psychology po celém světě vždy zajímala otázka procesu lidského rozhodování. Eko- nomové zd·razňují význam teorie úžitku během rozhodování, kdežto psychologové se zaměřují na r·zné vnitřní a vnější stimuly ovlivňující naše rozhodnutí. Oba tyto přístupy m·žeme najít v be- haviorální ekonomií, kde oba koncepty mezi sebou těsně spolupracují. Znalost r·zných ekonomic- kých i psychologických faktor·, které ovlivňují náš výběr m·že být mimo jiné přínosná například ve výzkumu spropitného. Abychom našli r·zné d·vody pro placení spropitného, vytvořili jsme experiment ohledně výše spropitného u českých zákazník·. Procentuální výše spropitného byla zkoumána v závislosti na pohlaví obsluhy, velikosti skupiny, která navštívila restauraci, velikosti účtu na jednu osobu a také byl zkoumán vliv tří na sobě nezávislých intervencí. Tyto intervence byly zaměřeny na altruistické chování, reciprocitu a dobrou náladu zp·sobenou personalizací. Výsledky experimentu jsou překvapující a neshodují se s výsledky z předchozích experiment·. Bylo zjištěno, že intervence spojené s altruismem a reciprocitou mají negativní vliv na výši spro- pitného, avšak intervence spojená s personalizací nemá žádný vliv na spropitné. Ve výsledku se také poukazuje na klíčový vliv země, ve které je experiment proveden. 1
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Experimental Investigation of Discrimination of Mothers in the Labor Market
Kočová, Alžběta ; Pertold-Gebicka, Barbara (advisor) ; Víšek, Jan Ámos (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to determine the degree of discrimination of mothers in the Czech labor market during employee selection. We conduct an Internet field experiment which allows us to study the effect of the different lengths of parental leave on the probability of being invited for a job interview. We test three years long parental leave, a typical length in the Czech environment, against two years long parental leave as the shortest usual length, using a mother long after parental leave as our third control group. We found a slight preference for the three years parental leave, but we cannot confirm the hypothesis of three years leave being significantly preferred to two years leave at conventional confidence levels. The most significant is the result where resume of high-quality was sent. The results about the role of social norms from a survey among hiring specialists indicate that from two opposing effects - losing knowledge and working experience the longer a mother is on parental leave, versus losing flexibility at work the younger her child is - none is of higher concern if comparing three years leave and two years leave. JEL Classification C81, C93, J71, J13, M51 Keywords discrimination, decision making, experimental economics, hiring, mothers, parental leave Author's e-mail...
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An Experimental Test of Design Alternatives for Spectrum Auctions with Communication Channels
Matoušek, Jindřich ; Cingl, Lubomír (advisor) ; Kukačka, Jiří (referee)
Charles University in Prague Faculty of Social Sciences Institute of Economic Studies MASTER THESIS An Experimental Test of Design Alternatives for Spectrum Auctions with Communication Channels Author: Bc. Jindřich Matoušek Supervisor: PhDr. Lubomír Cingl Academic Year: 2013/2014 Abstract The multi-unit auction mechanisms are one of the most important instruments used for the allocation of spectrum licenses, airport time slots, delivery routes, networking or furniture allocation. This thesis experimentally examines the attributes of complex multi-unit auction mechanisms (Simultaneous Multi-Round Auction and its combinatorial extension Simultaneous Multi-Round Package Bidding) in the presence of an opportunity to collude among the bidding participants due to a provision of a simple communication channel - a chat window. The results suggest that in our parameter setting, the combinatorial bidding format does not bring higher efficiency. Interestingly, allowing for communication increases efficiency in both examined auction formats. Bidders are able to split the auctioned goods in a collusive agreement, which results in a better allocation compared to the auction formats without the communication channel. Combinatorial bidding on packages probably makes the decision-making problem of bidders hard to process...
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Field Experiments and Firms: Practical Applications of Behavioral Economics
Chadimová, Kateřina ; Cingl, Lubomír (advisor) ; Korbel, Václav (referee)
Recent development in experimental economics has brought a lot of new meth- ods that could be highly beneficial for both firms and scientists. Rather than carrying out experiments only in laboratories, experimental economists con- duct also field experiments, i.e. the experiments which examine intervention in the natural environment of participants, claiming that people tend to behave more naturally there and therefore the results are more realistic. Successful applications of these field experiments show that a proper usage of findings of behavioral economics can significantly improve a firm's market position, de- crease its costs and boost the overall efficiency. Moreover, economists are given a great opportunity to test various microeconomic theories about consumer's or firm's behaviour at the same time and to quantify their impact. The goal of this thesis is two-fold. First, I scrutinize different types of field experiments that were applied in firms, define their efficiency and summarize their outcomes. Second, I define the best practices for effective cooperation between experimen- tal economists and firms. Moreover, I design a hypothetical field experiment to reveal the effect of time-management training on a firm's productivity.
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Utilization of experimental games' methods in the study of cooperation, altruism and fairness and their biological predictors
Nováková, Julie ; Flegr, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Lindová, Jitka (referee)
Cooperative, altruistic and fairness-exhibiting behavior is an important topic in evolutionary and behavioral biology and the mechanisms leading to its evolution, ultimate as well as proximate precursors, are subject of much research in biological as well as social sciences, theoretical as well as experimental work. In light of the life history theory, I focused on the connection of one's health state and cooperative behavior in humans and tested the hypothesis that more healthy individuals would manifest more cooperative tendencies (as they would have more opportunities of future interactions and long-term benefits), and conversely. The data, obtained from a sample of university students engaged in experimental games (Dictator Game, Ultimatum Game, Expanded Ultimatum Game, Trust Game, and Reversed Dictator Game) and a health and personality-focused questionnaire, did not corroborate this hypothesis. My other hypotheses - that better memory and lower temporal discounting would be related to more cooperative behavior (stemming from the conditions for reciprocal cooperation) - were supported by the data, albeit only partially in the case of memory. I also used the data from the five experimental games to briefly describe the proportions of different types of behavior (self-regarding, altruistic,...
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