Research Projects

Present Bias over Choices in Food and Money: Evidence from a Framed Field Experiment (with Alexander Danzer)

Abstract: We measure dynamic inconsistency in food vs. money choices in a unique longitudinal consumption experiment that satisfies the consume-on-receipt assumption in a real consumption task: participants repeatedly choose and consume lunch menus at their college canteen and perform monetary reward experiments. We find no significant correlation between time parameters in food vs. money tasks. Utility estimates from food choices suggest that individuals choosing the commitment device enforce dynamically consistent behavior by using an internal self-control strategy when external commitment is absent. Non-committing individuals tend to be present-biased and naive about their inconsistency.

Time Preferences and Food Waste: Investigating Food Consumption over Time 

Abstract: This paper investigates the link between dynamically inconsistent time preferences and individual food waste behavior. Food waste is conceptualized as unintended consequence of inconsistent consumption choices along the food consumption chain: Because present-biased individuals postpone the consumption of healthier food, storage time is prolonged and food more likely to be wasted. Capitalizing on a rich data set from a nationally representative survey, the paper constructs targeted measures of time-related food consumption and waste behaviors. In line with the theory, I find that more present-biased individuals waste more food. This finding is robust to different variable specifications. The paper points to the importance of considering dynamic inconsistencies at different stages of the food consumption process to foster the intended effects of food policy changes (increase healthy nutrition) and diminish unintended behavioral consequences (food waste).

Economic Behavior under Containment: How do People Respond to Covid-19 Restrictions? (with Alexander Danzer and Matthias Holzmann)

Abstract: This paper investigates the importance of extrinsic regulation for behavioral changes in people's everyday lives, exemplified with Covid-19 containment policies. Capitalizing on exogenous variation in predetermined election cycles across states in Germany, we instrument containment policy stringency with the distance to the next election. Leveraging a nationally representative short panel, the paper exploits within state variation to assess behavioral changes in different economic domains. We find that government restrictions increase working from home and the provision of childcare at home, while it reduces the number of grocery shopping trips. Corona containment policies also affect risk preferences but have no systematic effect on consumption behavior. The results are robust to different model specifications.

The E-Word – On the Public Acceptance of Experiments (with Mira Fischer, Elisabeth Grewenig, Philipp Lergetporer and Katharina Werner), Economics Letters, access here. 

Abstract: Randomized experiments are often viewed as the “gold standard” of scientific evidence, but people’s scepticism towards experiments has compromised their viability in the past. We study preferences for experimental policy evaluations in a representative survey in Germany (N>1,900). We find that a majority of 75% supports the idea of small-scale evaluations of policies before enacting them at a large scale. Experimentally varying whether the evaluations are explicitly described as “experiments” has a precisely estimated overall zero effect on public support. Our results indicate political leeway for experimental policy evaluation, a practice that is still uncommon in Germany.