1,721,096 research outputs found
The Ambiguity Box: A new tool to generate ambiguity in the lab
No full textThe Ambiguity Box is a software tool that visualizes uncertainty in laboratory experiments. It is a dynamic frame composed of squares that randomly change colours, creating an uncertain and ambiguous environment. This encourages participants to infer the probabilities of each colour. The tool contributes to the economic literature by introducing a new layer of uncertainty, overcoming limitations of traditional tools like the Bingo Blower. The Ambiguity Box is more practical as it is software-based and can be used with any electronic device. It is flexible, allowing experimenters to predetermine the number of squares of each colour, making it adaptable to various experimental designs. It is easily scalable, suitable for use in different contexts, and allows for the exploration of decision-making under ambiguity in diverse settings, dealing also with extremely low probabilities
Public spirit on immigration issues and tax morale in Italy: An empirical investigation
No full textTax evasion is undoubtedly a pervasive phenomenon likely to impact negatively on equity, social capital and social cohesion. A growing body of research has started to investigate the role of “tax morale,” as the intrinsic motivation to pay taxes, in driving individual tax compliance decisions. Given the increasing anti-immigration sentiment among Italian taxpayers, triggered by recent continuous migrant inflows from North African countries, the aim of this paper is to shed light on the relationship between tax morale and public spirit on immigration issues. Drawing on the European Value Survey longitudinal dataset, a large-scale, cross-national and longitudinal survey research program on basic human values and belief systems among people in Europe, we derived an index capturing the degree of perceived threat from immigration inflows (IBTS)and a tax morale indicator (TM). Controlling for a set of widely investigated tax morale determinants, we found that the IBTS coefficient is always negative and statistically significant at the highest significance level. This means that an increase in the degree of perceived threat among taxpayers always crowds out tax morale, reducing their willingness to comply with the law
Inequalities in financial markets: Evidences from a laboratory experiment
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects on welfare distribution of quality and quantity of information among traders in laboratory financial markets. Results lead us to conclude that signal accuracy matters in underpinning inequality distribution. Generally, there is evidence that high quality signals produce lower inequality. However, by analyzing tail behavior, there seems to be cases of overconfidence in high quality signals generating "extra" level of inequality
The impact of a preopening session on subsequent trading: An experimental analysis
No full textIn this study, we examine the influence of a preopening call market (CM) session on the subsequent continuous double auction (CDA) trading phase within a combined market structure (CMDA). We propose that the introduction of a CM phase before the CDA could potentially mitigate price volatility during the CDA by facilitating the disclosure of agents' private information through the preopening pricing phase. Our findings reveal a positive relationship between the preopening price and the prices traded during the subsequent phase, alongside a decreased deviation of prices from their fundamental value when high-quality information is available. These results suggest that a well-defined preopening phase has the potential to improve market efficiency
“Less is more” or “more is better”? The effect of asymmetric information distribution on market efficiency and wealth inequality
No full textWe provide experimental and empirical evidence on the role of information distribution and accuracy in solving market inefficiency and the related welfare implications. To this end, we vary both (i) the informativeness of the private signal released and (ii) the fraction of informed traders. At market level, results evidence how higher informativeness is not conclusive, since mispricing persists. Furthermore, a reduction of signal precision reflects traders' uncertainty aversion through lower price volatility. Results are robust when both all and half of the players are informed (i.e., received the signals). At subject level, we observe that informed traders are gaining more profits. Anyway, the signal precision and distribution do not statistically change the profits of both net market-winners and net market-losers. This suggests that-on average-the intensity of asymmetric information distribution (i.e., the size of the information imbalance between informed and uniformed traders) does not alter the wealth distribution
Inequalities under ambiguity
No full textThis paper explores the impact of risk and ambiguity on wealth redistribution through an experimental dictator game. The findings show that wealth redistribution significantly declined with heightened perceived risk, suggesting that increased risk and ambiguity may reduce altruistic behavior. Gender differences in risk aversion were observed under conditions of risk but disappeared under conditions of ambiguity. This study highlights the importance of risk perception in shaping social preferences and the potential use of ambiguity as a moral justification to avoid engagement in pro-social behaviors and wealth redistribution
Fast and slow dynamic decision making under ambiguity
No full textDifferent people think in different ways, and their behaviour can be analysed in different ways. In this paper, we analyse the correlation between the type of behaviour and the time taken to reach a decision in a dynamic context and under ambiguity with different monetary incentives, linking the results with fast and slow thinking processes. Four different types of dynamic decision-makers are identified: Resolute, Myopic, Sophisticated, and Expected Utility (EU). The different types use different methods to solve dynamic problems: A Resolute decision-maker (DM) decides right at the beginning his or her strategy, a Myopic DM simplifies the problem by ignoring part of it, a Sophisticated DM works by backward induction, and an EU DM either works by backward induction or by using the Strategy Method. We use data from (Caferra et al., 2023) where subjects were asked to solve a two-stage dynamic allocation problem. In that experiment, there were two treatments, incentivised and unincentivised. We found that their type matters: EU subjects take more time to solve the ambiguity, showing a relationship between dynamic consistency and ambiguity-neutrality with a deliberative thinking process. We also found that subjects in the non-incentivised treatment take less time, indicating that monetary incentives matter. The gap between the probabilities at each stage appears to be a good predictor of uncertainty for uncertainty averse subjects: the higher is the gap, the clearer is the most probable event and the lower is the time subjects spend to solve the decision problem
Crypto-environment network connectivity and Bitcoin returns distribution tail behaviour
No full textThis study explores whether and to what extent cryptocurrency ecosystem network connectivity predicts Bitcoin returns across quantiles of the return distribution. The facets of cryptocurrency ecosystem network connectivity we consider include connectivity between the on- and off-chain segments of the Bitcoin market, the intensity and synchronization of social and traditional crypto-focused media activity, the intensity of network correlations between cryptocurrencies. We identify tail behaviour predictors employing a quantile regression approach. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of several connectivity measures in predicting both price spikes and downfalls, but in a different way before and during the COVID-19 outbreak
Family affairs or Government's duty? The tax morality of a mobile society
No full textPurpose This paper aims to shed light on the relationship between intergenerational labor mobility and tax morale among European citizens, given the relatively limited evidence on the potential influence of tax compliance behavior on future inequalities. Design/methodology/approach Exploiting data from the European Values Study (2008), we show that the larger the intergenerational mobility, i.e. better economic conditions of children respect to their parents, the larger the willingness to pay taxes. In this vein, the subjective tax payment may be meant as an investment which could be rewarded with a more mobile society result by considering different estimation strategies. This evidence remarks the importance to foster intergenerational mobility to build a more tax-compliant society. Findings The linkage between mobility and tax morale is stronger and significant across citizens living in high income classes, and in countries where there is a commitment of the Government in guaranteeing more opportunities to citizens regardless of their familiar starting conditions (more defamiliarized countries). We further show that the intergenerational mobility significantly shapes the attitude towards tax payment only among individuals who claim for independence from their family context (i.e. those showing less family ties). This evidence remarks the importance to foster intergenerational mobility to build a more tax-compliant society. Originality/value We revisit the linkage between attitude toward tax compliance and inequality, on the light of the intergenerational labor mobility, that may be seen as the dependence between children's and parents' earnings. Given the insights from the existing studies, this paper represents the first empirical work that aims to analyze the potential relationship between intergenerational mobility and personal attitude toward tax payment across European citizens
- …
