Title: Here or There? The impact of project location on the (un)support for carbon and hydrogen storage: a Discrete Choice Experiment

Abstract:

This article uses Discrete Choice Experiments (DCEs) to investigate the key factors influencing the social acceptability of carbon (CO₂) and hydrogen (H₂) storage projects in France. Two samples were used: one representative of the general French population and another focused on residents living near potential storage sites. While these technologies are essential for achieving carbon neutrality goals, they often encounter local opposition or, at the very least, a lack of public support. The experiments emphasize the importance of information: the study explores how geographical proximity (e.g. the distance between a respondent's home and the proposed storage site) affects risk perceptions and preferences, and whether providing this information alters levels of support or opposition.

Title: Market vs Regulation – A Field Experiment on Mayors’ Decisions in Urban Planning 

Abstract:

After 40 years of significant urban land take, the French government established in the 2021 Climate & Resilience Law a “net zero land take” target by 2050 (i.e., “ZAN” in French). The scale of urban land take results from the accumulation of many small development projects. These projects are overrepresented in low-density territories, relatively to their population and economic dynamisms (Arambourou et al., 2023; Bocquet, 2023). The high administrative fragmentation of the French metropolitan territory, with 34,806 on January the 1st, 2024, leads to infrastructure duplications in a general context of weak territorial coordination (Augias, 2021; CEV, 2019). To reach the “net zero land take” target by 2050, the French government has designed a prescriptive regulation instrument. The time is divided into ten-year periods, 2021-2031, 2031-2041 and 2041-2050. For the first period, an intermediary objective has been defined by the national government and corresponds to an envelope of roughly 125,000 hectares available for land take in metropolitan France. The envelope is currently allocated by regions to municipalities. Using business-as-usual projections, the land area needs for 2021-2031 are estimated at almost 200,000 hectares. The gap between business-as-usual needs and land area available for land take is expected to widen for the next periods. This objective to reduce land take hence represents a major systemic break in urban planning. The ability to provide sufficient housing and premises to reach households and businesses’ needs, under the municipal budget and land-take reduction constraints, is largely questioned. This ability largely depends on the ability of mayors to use abatement strategies: downward re-evaluation of the needs, increased density, urban recycling and rehabilitation, and renaturation. The mayors’ ability depends in return both on their willingness to use abatement strategies, prioritizing certain development projects, convincing private actors and citizens, and on their technical and financial capacity (Bihouix et al., 2022). In an online field experiment, we will analyse the urban development strategies of local electives facing a bidding land-take regulation. In addition, we will evaluate how a market-based instrument modifies the participants' strategies, especially in terms of economically rational behaviour and cooperation. 

Co-authors: Sibilla di Guida (IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca), Luca Polonio (University of Milan Bicocca) 

Title: When Game Theory Meets Psychometrics: Measuring Strategic Sophistication Across Games 

Abstract:

Decisions in economic games are increasingly used to measure individual characteristics, such as cooperativeness or theory-of-mind. These measures often analyze decisions using game theory notions, like level-k behavior or equilibrium concepts. However, it is unclear if measures obtained in different games and conditions consistently reflect the same individual characteristic. This paper introduces a theoretical framework and statistical methods to examine three key measurement properties: construct validity (whether different measures capture the same individual characteristic), measurement invariance (whether the same measure captures the same characteristic across conditions), and reliability (how accurately the measure captures the characteristic). We reanalyze data from seven past experiments on strategic sophistication, revealing pervasive issues with construct validity and measurement invariance that may alter the interpretation of results. I will then present an experimental design meant to illustrate how studies on strategic sophistication and learning can adapt their design to test and enhance these measurement properties. 

Title: Eco-anxiety and Insurance: Behavioral Experiments

Abstract:

This paper examines the impact of eco-anxiety on the classification of insurance loss data using experiments with Large Language Model (LLM) agents. When individuals experience eco-anxiety, a third perceive risks as uninsurable, while those who still consider them insurable anticipate a 50% increase in expected loss. Additionally, wisdom—proxied by demographic characteristics such as age and experience—has no statistically significant effect on these outcomes. These findings highlight the need for a rational, collective approach to risk assessment that fosters informed action without exacerbating anxiety.

Title: Does regulating greenwashing improve trust in greener consumption choices?

Abstract:

Consumers' demand in pro-environmental goods has been growing with recent environmental concerns. Consequently, firms have increased their reliance on environmental communications and self-labelling schemes, many of them corresponding to “greenwashing” practices, only designed to capture demand without significantly improving the environmental impact of the firms' activities. The information asymmetry thus created could bring consumers to avoid self-promoting “green” products. Institutions are attempting to improve regulations on greenwashing, notably by punctually verifying environmental allegations from companies, and punishing unjustified allegations. This research aims to test whether or not 1) such punctual punishment of deceptive talk allows individuals to efficiently detect greenwashing 2) individuals’ mistrust is motivated by financial interests. Additionally, we explore mechanisms of “green (mis)trust” – subjective probability of and ambiguity attitudes towards greenwashing behaviour – across conditions.

Title: How do Groups Search? An experimental study

Abstract: 

The search for a suitable alternative is often a collective process, yet little is known about how groups search. I report results from lab experiments on collective search, varying the stopping decision rule and whether groups agree on the value of alternatives, and contrasting it with individual search. Several insights emerge. First, groups search for longer, especially under stricter stopping rules. Second, collective search affects performance, as groups tend to do better than individuals when preferences are aligned but worse otherwise. Finally, collective search shapes search strategies, affecting individuals' selectiveness and mitigating nonstationary search behavior. 

Title : An experiment on strategic lying and deception

Abstract : 

One important finding in the lying experimental literature is that agents are at least somewhat averse to lying. However, little is known about how people lie in order to maximize their credibility. Hence, we study a simple cheap-talk game in which the sender, who can be either good or bad, tries to convince the receiver that she is good. The sender observes her type and the realization of a weighted 8-sided die. Good types are more likely to observe higher numbers, and bad types are more likely to receive lower numbers, with an increasing likelihood ratio. After observing the die’s outcome, the sender sends a message to the receiver–any whole number between 1 and 8. The sender (of any type) wishes to convince the receiver she is good, and the receiver wishes to guess the sender’s type as accurately as possible. 

Title: The choice of plant-based versus meat dishes in a university restaurant : more about social image than climate change?

Abstract : 

The aim of this presentation is to gain feedback on an experimental design. The objective of this experiment is to examine whether making others' choices visible and activating social image considerations increases the individual likelihood of adopting pro-environmental behaviors, specifically choosing a vegetarian or plant-based meal. The experiment will involve approximately 400 participants and will take place over 10 days. Participants will choose between three dish options (standard meat, standard vegetarian, and premium vegetarian) with the visibility of each being manipulated through different colored trays. We will use two types of nudges: the color of the trays will make choices more less visible, and the size of the tray stacks will indicate a descriptive norm (on the choices of others). We plan to explore how stated environmental concern (assessed through a preliminary questionnaire) influences the choices and their sensitivity to nudges, and whether perceived social norms influence such choices. Specific treatments may include the researcher manipulating plate stacks to reinforce a pro-vegetarian norm and test for the existence of tipping points. We will analyze the results based on the participants' stated environmental concern and general lifestyle, with post-experimental questionnaires used to understand motivations and verify the effectiveness of the manipulations.

Title: Walking for Rewards: Gender Differences in Response to App-Based Incentives

Abstract:

This paper seeks to determine whether women and men respond similarly to a step-tracking application, which offers monetary rewards for steps. Motivated by the discrepancy between self-reported walking habits and those tracked by the app, we analyze the usage patterns of over 14,000 users across France. Our recorded data suggest that women engage more consistently with the app than men, in terms of opening the app. Both male and female users are sensitive to monetary prizes. While the paper does not report significant gender differences, our results underscore the importance of considering the motives of interaction with health applications as it may impact the implementation of digital health interventions. 

Title: Recommender Systems Unplugged: Effects of explaining algorithmic recommendations on music discovery, an experimental approach 

Abstract:

Music streaming services make massive use of algorithms in their music recommender systems (MRS) to guide users to tracks that they are likely to enjoy. However, the black-box nature of these algorithms makes them difficult for users to understand, both in terms of how they work and the music they predict. The field of explainable AI (XAI), and in particular its “explanation” side, has emerged to make the uses of AI (including MRSs) more comprehensible to users. This paper aims to observe, using an experimental method, whether the explanation of an MRS algorithm induces a change in discovery behavior on music streaming services. In a theoretical framework, we model two types of user discovery behavior, namely “study” and “browse” behaviors. We then test in the lab the explanation effects on these behaviors by explaining a simplified “semi-personalized” MRS, and measuring the relative listening time of the tracks. We observe no average effect induced by the explanations, but we observe a differentiated impact of explanations based on the treatment intensity (i.e. the time spent reading to it), the more the people are treated, the more they listen to the tracks, reinforcing the “study” behavior. 

Title: The Effects of Quotas on Teamwork: Prior Biases and Learning

Abstract:

In striving for diversity, organizations frequently adopt quotas in their selection processes to redress imbalances between majority and minority groups. While quotas have demonstrated positive effects on workforce composition, their implications for team performance, career advancement, and long-term retention remain ambiguous. The lasting effects of quotas are tied to workplace interactions. Recent studies have highlighted disparities in group dynamics, particularly between genders, revealing variations in speaking frequency, engagement in teamwork, and willingness to lead. These dynamics are intertwined with confidence levels. However, there is a knowledge gap on the precise influence of quotas on these interactions and confidence. This study explores the effects of quotas on team outcomes, particularly in response to partners' confidence levels. I conduct an online experiment comprising a tournament and a teamwork stage. The tournament's performance determines pair compositions and payment schemes for the subsequent teamwork stage. Participants are randomly sorted into a control and a quota group. The design eliminates composition effects, focusing on the belief that winners are selected based solely on performance or performance and group membership. I measure the impact of quota on confidence, team performance, and willingness to work as a team. Using confidence as a signal of ability, I investigate the learning biases resulting from quota-generated exposure. 

Title: Regulating Visual Marketing Cues from the Lab 

Abstract: 

E-commerce websites often use salient visual elements, called marketing cues, to steer consumers towards specific choices. Current regulations focus on the algorithms that determine which choices are promoted,, but do not restrict the cues themselves.  In this paper, I study the welfare effects of marketing cues in a lab experiment. I measure the performance of subjects in a choice task with induced values during which one of the alternatives receives a visual cue, varying the cue and the algorithm. I find that a brown and a green circle found on the website of a food retailer are equally helpful if they always appear on the best item, but uneven harmful for more realistic algorithms. I analyze the results in light of a static model of rational attention and identify conditions under which they can be considered externally valid. I also illustrate how the choice of a cue can affect supply-supply incentives regarding prices and the algorithm. Finally, I discuss the potential of regulations restricting which cues can be used. 

Title: Voting under the influence of far right misinformation 

Abstract: 

Despite widespread concern, there is mixed evidence as to the effect of far right misinformation on voting behaviour. I conduct an online experimental survey (n = 3000) during the 2022 French presidential election. The main finding is that there is no effect on voting intention for far right candidates, but rather a significant increase in support for centrist candidates. I provide evidence that these effects are mediated by changes in political attitudes with respect to the incumbent president Macron.  

Title: The limits to universalism 

Abstract:

Surveys, ballot measures, donations, and consumer spending alike reveal a growing concern for the welfare of animals. What is driving this phenomenon? Does it follow a general shift toward more universalist attitudes, or are social preferences for humans and animals substitutes? I propose a representative survey experiment to measure the distribution, interdependence, and determinants of universalist attitudes toward various human or animal out-groups. Attitudes would be elicited in two ways: (1) via reviously validated hypothetical money allocation tasks between an in-group member and an out-group representative; (2) by allowing respondents to make donations to NGOs that focus on a specific out-group. In a between design, subjects would be randomly exposed to two treatments designed to vary the perceived distance to animal out-groups and dynamic norm beliefs about the treatment of animals. 

Title: Recommender Systems Unplugged: Effects of explaining algorithmic recommendations on music discovery, an experimental approach 

(co-writing with Julien M'Barki)

Abstract:

Music streaming services make massive use of algorithms in their music recommender systems (MRS) to guide users to tracks they are likely to enjoy. However, the black-box nature of these algorithms makes them difficult for users to understand, both in terms of how they work and the music they predict. The field of explainable AI (XAI), and in particular its “explanation” side, has emerged to make the uses of AI (including MRSs) more comprehensible to users. This paper aims to observe, using an experimental method, whether the explanation of an MRS algorithm induces a change in discovery behavior on music streaming services. In a theoretical framework, we model two types of users' discovery behaviors, namely “study” and “browse” behaviors. We then test in the lab the explanation effects on these behaviors by explaining two simplified MRSs, taking into account only certain music recommendation criteria.

Title: A discrete choice experiment exploring forest owners' preferences for insurance against natural and weather events

Abstract:

Natural hazards threaten forest ecosystems, and this threat is increasing as a result of climate change. Among the relevant means of covering natural risks, insurance is presented as a risk-sharing strategy. Indeed, insurance is seen as a means of financing resilience and adaptation to climate change by numerous international bodies and reports (OECD, 2015; Global Agenda Council on Climate Change, 2014; Article 4.8 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and Article 3.14 of the Kyoto Protocol). However, adoption of forest insurance by private landowners remains low or non-existent in most European countries due to factors such as cost, lack of knowledge and poor risk perception. In this study, we use a discrete choice experiment to reveal the insurance contract preferences of private forest owners. The results of this study could help to develop forest insurance policies that are better adapted to the needs and preferences of private forest owners, and promote more sustainable and resilient forest management practices in the face of climate change.

Title: Beliefs in repeated dictator games: an experimental approach

Abstract:

This project proposes a laboratory experiment to explore the nexus between beliefs, actions, and reputation within finite and indefinitely repeated dictator games. Our primary aim is to shed light on subjects' elicited beliefs about their matched player's actions. Beyond actions, we want to extend our analysis to study the evolution of beliefs on a simple reputation, an information device that summarises previous actions of the game. 

 Title: Level 0 specification in 3x3 games

Abstract:

The Level-k model is one of the most important bounded rationality models. In this model, a level 0 player has a non-strategic behavior, a level 1 player best responds to the level 0 player, a level 2 best responds to the level 1 player, etc. One regular critic of this model is the level 0 specification, which is often chosen arbitrarily. In this experiment proposal, I present multiple 3x3 games to understand what is the most realistic level 0 specification. The most commonly used level 0 specification is the uniform one (i.e. the level 0 plays randomly) and it can be compared to a maxmax level 0 (i.e. the behavior with the highest potential) to a maxmin level 0 and a jointmax level 0 (i.e. the strategy maximizing the payoff for all players).

Title: The effects of reminders on engagement and walking: Evidence from a large scale experiment 

(co-writing Beatrice Braut and Sarah Zaccagni)

Abstract: 

Do reminders on mobile phones promote walking? We investigate this question using a large-scale field experiment on more than 20,187 individuals in France. In collaboration with a step-tracking application, we test how different types of reminders and different extensions of the intervention affect walking habits. We send three types of messages framed to emphasize different behavioral features: sunk cost, peers, and self-comparison. We also vary the duration of the intervention (1 versus 3 weeks) per each of them. First, we document that women walk less than men, but are more committed to using the application. The average number of steps over the intervention period follows a downward trend, likely determined by a seasonal effect. We find heterogeneous treatment effects based on the type of walker: users who walk less than 5,000 steps before the treatment are the ones who benefit more from the messages.

Title: Effect of misinformation on rational voting in the laboratory

(co-writing with Lily Savey)

Abstract:

Misinformation is often shared to improve the electoral chances of extreme candidates. Although it has been shown to influence voting in this way in France and Germany, the literature does not explicitly show that this is a deviation from rational voting. Rational voting means opting for one’s preferred candidate or, when she does not stand a viable chance of winning the election, voting for a similar candidate who does. As such, voters can maximise the utility of their vote. Our aim is to explore the extent to which misinformation obstructs rational voting. We propose to study rational voting in the laboratory, as it allows us to control for important factors that are inevitably imprecisely measured using survey data.

Title: "Worker’s Preferences over Payment Schedules: Evidence from Ridesharing Drivers" 

Abstract: 

An occupation is usually characterized as a combination of what people do and how much they are paid for it, with little attention to the fact that work arrangements also define when people are paid for their labor. This paper complements this discussion by investigating how much value people assign to having a short delay between their tasks and the associated compensation. Using a national experimental survey with ridesharing drivers in Brazil, I find a very strong preference for the quick payment feature, as a third of the drivers report preferring an arrangement that pays always on the same day of the ride against the alternative of earning about twice as much with a month's delay. Evidence from subgroup analysis and free text responses suggests that the short delay is preferable in this context due to (a) the presence of financial constraints combined with (b) the value of being able to quickly adjust income by working more hours when needed. An experimentally induced discussion about the driver's potential liquidity sources makes them marginally more likely to prefer high-rate, long-delay contracts, indicating a modest role for primed perceptions with respect to preferences over work payment schedules.

Title: "(Un)Willingness to wait for/learn about the diagnosis, using Discrete Choice Experiments"

Abstract:

The complexity and rarity of rare diseases often lead to unique care pathways characterised by an extended time to diagnosis, which can be caused by various factors from both healthcare providers and patients. In this paper, the focus is on the patient-side effects of diagnostic delays, specifically driven by individual and collective preferences for health information. Additionally, the paper sheds light on future policy interventions aimed at reducing the time to diagnosis. The goal of this paper is to examine how patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals value diagnostic information and explore ways in which healthcare providers can enhance communication with patients and caregivers, thereby promoting patient adherence and improving overall health outcomes.  

Title: "Does others’ health count for peanuts? Health, market returns, and pro-sociality" 

Abstract:

Food safety issues are pervasive in low-income countries. Products that are available to local consumers often do not meet health-related standards that are applicable in higher-income countries. In the context of poor regulation, it is necessary to explore potential reasons why farmers might invest in quality production. This paper aims to highlight the channels that might drive farmers to value information about food quality. Through a lab-in-the-field experiment using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak mechanism, we elicit the willingness to pay (WTP) for access to groundnut powder with a low level of aflatoxin among Senegalese groundnut farmers. Randomized access to thorough information about aflatoxin is introduced to estimate the effect of information. In our design, the groundnut powder is allocated between three purposes: own consumption, consumption by others, and sale. Preliminary results show that respondents are willing to pay more for their own health but altruistic farmers value equally their health and others'. Information increases respondents' willingness to pay for all purposes. 

Title: "Information disclosure and mortgage insurance choice under substandard risk"