March 20, 2018
By: |
James Andreoni ; Michael Kuhn ; John List ; Anya Samek ; Charles Sprenger |
Time preferences have been correlated with a range of life outcomes, yet little is known about their early development. We conduct a field experiment to elicit time preferences of nearly 1,000 children ages 3-12, who make several inter temporal decisions. To shed light on how such primitives form, we explore various channels that might affect time preferences, from background characteristics to the causal impact of an early schooling program that we developed and operated. Our results suggest that time preferences evolve substantially during this period with younger children displaying more impatience than older children. We also find a strong association with race: black children, relative to white or Hispanic children, are more impatient. Interestingly, parents of black children are also much more impatient than parents of white and Hispanic children. Finally, assignment to different schooling opportunities is not significantly associated with child time preferences. |
URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:artefa:00615&r=ltv |
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March 20, 2018
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Rafael Di Tella (Harvard Business School, Business, Government and the International Economy Unit) ; Lucía Freira (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella) ; Ramiro H. Gálvez (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella) ; Ernesto Schargrodsky (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella) ; Diego Shalom (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella) ; Mariano Sigman (Universidad Torcuato Di Tella) |
We study desensitization to crime in a lab experiment by showing footage of criminal acts to a group of subjects, some of whom have been previously victimized. We measure biological markers of stress and behavioral indices of cognitive control before and after treated participants watch a series of real, crime-related videos (while the control group watches non-crime-related videos). Not previously victimized participants exposed to the treatment video show significant changes in cortisol level, heart rate, and measures of cognitive control. Instead, previously victimized individuals who are exposed to the treatment video show biological markers and cognitive performance comparable to those measured in individuals exposed to the control video. These results suggest a phenomenon of desensitization or habituation of victims to crime exposure. |
Keywords: |
crime, biological markers, experiment, victimization, desensitization |
JEL: |
K42 |
URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hbs:wpaper:18-039&r=ltv |
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Posted by maximorossi
March 6, 2018
By: |
Xavier Gabaix |
Inattention is a central, unifying theme for much of behavioral economics. It permeates such disparate fields as microeconomics, macroeconomics, finance, public economics, and industrial organization. It enables us to think in a rather consistent way about behavioral biases, speculate about their origins, and trace out their implications for market outcomes. This survey first discusses the most basic models of attention, using a fairly unified framework. Then, it discusses the methods used to measure attention, which present a number of challenges on which much progress has been done. It then examines the various theories of attention, both behavioral and more Bayesian. It finally discusses some applications. For instance, inattention offers a way to write a behavioral version of basic microeconomics, as in consumer theory, producer theory, and Arrow-Debreu. A last section is devoted to open questions in the attention literature. This chapter is a pedagogical guide to the literature on attention. Derivations are self-contained. |
JEL: |
D03 D11 D51 G02 H2 |
URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24096&r=ltv |
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Posted by maximorossi
March 6, 2018
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Hamish Low (University Cambridge) ; Costas Meghir (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) ; Luigi Pistaferri (Stanford University, NBER, CEPR and SIEPR) ; Alessandra Voena (University of Chicago, NBER, CEPR and BREAD) |
The 1996 PRWORA reform introduced time limits on the receipt of welfare in the United States. We use variation by state and across demographic groups to provide reduced form evidence showing that such limits led to a fall in welfare claims (partly due to \banking” benefits for future use), a rise in employment, and a decline in divorce rates. We then specify and estimate a life-cycle model of marriage, labor supply and divorce under limited commitment to better understand the mechanisms behind these behavioral responses, carry out counterfactual analysis with longer run impacts and evaluate the welfare effects of the program. Based on the model, which reproduces the reduced form estimates, we show that among low educated women, instead of relying on TANF, single mothers work more, more mothers remain married, some move to relying only on food stamps and, in ex-ante welfare terms, women are worse off. |
Keywords: |
Time limits, Welfare reform, Life-cycle, Marriage and divorce |
JEL: |
D91 H53 J12 J21 |
URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:3021&r=ltv |
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Posted by maximorossi
March 6, 2018
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By: |
Lordan, Grace (London School of Economics) ; Neumark, David (University of California, Irvine) |
We study the effect of minimum wage increases on employment in automatable jobs – jobs in which employers may find it easier to substitute machines for people – focusing on low-skilled workers for whom such substitution may be spurred by minimum wage increases. Based on CPS data from 1980–2015, we find that increasing the minimum wage decreases significantly the share of automatable employment held by low-skilled workers, and increases the likelihood that low-skilled workers in automatable jobs become nonemployed or employed in worse jobs. The average effects mask significant heterogeneity by industry and demographic group, including substantive adverse effects for older, low-skilled workers in manufacturing. We also find some evidence that the same changes improve job opportunities for higher-skilled workers. The findings imply that groups often ignored in the minimum wage literature are in fact quite vulnerable to employment changes and job loss because of automation following a minimum wage increase. |
Keywords: |
minimum wage, employment, automation |
JEL: |
J23 J38 |
URL: |
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11297&r=ltv |
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