Friederike Reichel

Working papers

What's in a name? The breadth of moral labels

Coverage: Researching Misunderstandings

Revise & Resubmit Economic Journal

When should someone be called a bigot, an egoist, or a climate terrorist? Broadening negative moral labels to encompass more behaviors may have two effects. First, it may provide incentives to be moral to those who previously escaped judgment without adjusting their behavior (a purifying effect). Second, it may dilute the incentives of less moral types by decreasing the reputational damage associated with the label (a diluting effect). In this paper, I introduce a theoretical framework to study the purifying and diluting effects of broader moral labels and present experimental evidence for the existence of both. In a prediction study, I show that third parties underappreciate the importance of the diluting effect, which can explain the adoption of moral labels that are too broad. I also show theoretically that broad moral labels are particularly suboptimal when the social benefits associated with moral behavior are concave.

When Do Peers Influence Preventive Health Behavior? Evidence from Breast Cancer Screening

with Peter Redler

Revise & Resubmit Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization

We analyze the potential for social choice architecture to increase take-up rates of breast cancer check-ups in a large sample of women in Germany. We provide causal evidence that the relative timing of check-up appointments among peers matters for participation: A woman is more likely to participate in breast cancer screening when her peers’ appointments are scheduled shortly before her own. A simple intervention, however, shows that scheduling peers' appointments on the same day does not affect participation. We discuss possible mechanisms underlying the observed pattern of peer effects and highlight policy implications.

Work in progress

Co-audience Neglect

with Peter Schwardmann and Georg Weizsäcker

[draft available upon request]

When a speaker communicates with several audiences, the correct interpretation of the speaker's message requires an understanding of her incentives vis-a-vis all audiences. We hypothesize that, when confronted with this inference problem, some receivers neglect the extent to which a speaker also addresses other audiences. Such co-audience neglect will lead receivers whose incentives are aligned with the speaker's to be too trusting and receivers who are at odds with the speaker to be too skeptical. Co-audience neglect can, therefore, lead to polarization in beliefs, even when audiences are exposed to identical information. We present suggestive experimental evidence for co-audience neglect in a simple disclosure game between a sender and two receivers. 

Other writing

Environmental health inequalities in Europe: second assessment report

with Ricardo Almendra, Gabriele Bolte, and many others

Environmental conditions are a major determinant of health and well-being, but they are not shared equally across the population. Higher levels of environmental risk are often found in disadvantaged population subgroups. This assessment report considers the distribution of environmental risks and injuries within countries and shows that unequal environmental conditions, risk exposures and related health outcomes affect citizens daily in all settings where people live, work and spend their time. The report documents the magnitude of environmental health inequalities within countries through 19 inequality indicators on urban, housing and working conditions, basic services and injuries. Inequalities in risks and outcomes occur in all countries in the WHO European Region, and the latest evidence confirms that socially disadvantaged population subgroups are those most affected by environmental hazards, causing avoidable health effects and contributing to health inequalities. The results call for more environmental and intersectoral action to identify and protect those who already carry a disproportionate environmental burden. Addressing inequalities in environmental risk will help to mitigate health inequalities and contribute to fairer and more socially cohesive societies.