Latest Working Papers

Cartwright, E., Y. Chai and L. Xue, Information on social value orientation and contributions to a public good: Theory and evidence.

We explore the extent to which information about the social value orientation (SVO) of group members influences contributions to a public good. We compare four networks of information - empty, pair, star and complete. We find that information about SVO has a significant impact on contributions in an experimental setting. This impact is consistent with theoretical predictions based on reciprocity and guilt aversion. We show that a star network with a pro-social manager has the biggest positive effect on contributions. 

Cartwright, E. and M. Drouvelis, Social framing effects in leadership: Preferences or beliefs.

We experimentally study the impact of framing effects in a repeated sequential social dilemma game. Our between-subjects design consists of two group level (“Wall Street” vs. “Community”) and two individual level (“First (Second) Movers” vs. “Leaders (Followers)”) frames. We find that average contributions are significantly higher when the game is called the Wall Street game than when it is called the Community game. However, the social framing effect disappears when we control for players’ first-order and second-order beliefs. Overall, our evidence indicates that social frames enter people’s beliefs rather than their preferences. 

Cartwright, E., Y. Guo, L. Xue, L. Wei, Medical Occupation Preference under the Influence of the COVID-19 Epidemic

The study examined the influence of COVID-19 on job satisfaction and occupation preference among medical workers. The outbreak of COVID-19 started from Wuhan served as an exogenous shock on many people's lives, especially those with a career in the medical industry.  We conducted a large scale online survey experiment in China and UK (for robustness check) regarding the influence of the COVID-19 epidemic on medical occupation preference. The experiment in China has a two by two factorial design varying engagement and severity of influence during the epidemic, including the comparison between (1) medical and nonmedical workers; (2) Wuhan and non-Wuhan residents.The survey was conducted during March 2020, a time when the epidemic in Wuhan has passed its peak, which allow us to get more respondents from medical workers. We find that people who are medical workers are less willing to accept their children and partners engaging in medical occupations (reverse occupation inheritance); such a tendency is stronger among individuals in Wuhan than in other places in China. Willingness for children/partners to choose medical occupations is significantly influenced by individuals’ direct/indirect experiences during the epidemic, risk-taking preferences, prosocial preferences and information (news) shocks. Moreover, medical workers in Wuhan also exhibit significantly lower pro-social and higher risk averse, as well as significantly differences in future life and economic expectations from other groups. Our results indicate serious burnout among medical workers who conducted intensive workload under the severe influence of COVID-19 epidemic. The conclusion is based mainly on ex post comparisons and descriptive analysis, nonetheless it showed systematic differences that cannot be explain by other controlling factors expect the epidemic. We hope our results can provide important implications for policy makers in relevant policy makings and resource allocations during and after the epidemic. 

Cartwright, A., E. Cartwright and F. Alberti, Predicting efficiency in threshold public good games: A learning direction theory approach.

In this paper we propose a tractable model of behavior in threshold public good games. The model is based on learning direction theory. We find that individual behavior is consistent with the predictions of the model. Moreover, the model is able to accurately predict the success rate of groups in providing the public good. We apply this to give novel insight on the assurance problem by showing that the problem (of coordinating on the inefficient equilibrium of no contributions) is only likely with a relatively low endowment. In developing the model we compare and contrast best reply learning and impulse balance theory. Our results suggest that best reply learning provides a marginally better fit with the data. 

Cartwright, E., J. Davis and J. Rose, Trust to the Scientists: Intention to Complete the 2021 Census in Enland and Wales. 

The Census is carried in England and Wales every 10 years and gathers information on every household in the population. We conducted a survey two weeks prior to the official census date and measured intention to complete the census. We find that men, the young, and those in rented accommodation are significantly less likely to state an intention to complete the census. We also found a large effect of generalized trust and trust in scientists. 

Cartwright, E. and L. Xue, Lie aversion, anonymity and social distance: Are people more willing to lie using a mobile phone.

We report the results of an experiment designed to test if individuals are more dishonest when using a smartphone, desktop computer or pen and paper. We explore this in both a setting where dishonesty benefits another (mutual-gain), and one where it harms another (zero-sum). We find that dishonesty is higher with a smartphone than with pen and paper in both the mutual-gain and zero-sum settings. With a desktop computer, dishonesty is relatively high in the mutual-gain setting but low in the zero-sum setting. We interpret our findings in terms of the influence the communication media has on perceived social distance and anonymity.