We construct an overlapping-generations experiment to test for two alleged departures from Ricardian equivalence. In the first treatment the setting is close to the theoretical model, while in the second we allow for liquidity-constrained consumers. We then introduce uncertainty on future income...

This paper estimates the elasticity of intertemporal substitution in consumption (sigma). We exploit a natural experiment provided by a change in the Indian banking legislation which authorized all the deposit collecting institutions to offer a higher interest rate on deposits to citizens above...

This paper uses a unique panel dataset of consumer financial transactions to study how consumers respond to an exogenous unanticipated income shock. Consumption rose significantly after the fiscal policy announcement: during the ten subsequent months, for each dollar received, consumers on...

In an environment where lawmakers are struggling to raise tax revenue, public-policy tax “expenditures” have come under heavy scrutiny. In particular, tax preferences to boost retirement savings in employer-provided retirement plans has been at the center of such discussions. A recent study...

We examine the impact of a large high-school fi nancial education program on the intertemporal choices of adolescents. We randomly assigned the program among a sample of almost 1,000 students and measured their intertemporal choices using an incentivized experiment. While intertemporal choices...

In a democracy, it is essential that citizens accept rules and laws, regardless of which party is in power. We study why citizens in polarized societies resist rules implemented by political opponents. This may be due to the rules' specific content, but also because of a general preference...

When communicating numeric estimates with policymakers, journalists, or the general public, experts must choose between using numbers or natural language. We run two experiments to study whether experts strategically use language to communicate numeric estimates in order to persuade receivers....

An effective way to foster cooperation is to monitor behaviour and sanction freeriding. Yet, previous studies have shown that cooperation quickly declines when sanctioning mechanisms are removed. We test if explicitly expressing trust in players' capability to maintain cooperation after the...

Many professional and educational settings require individuals to be willing and able to perform under time pressure. We use a lab experiment to elicit preferences for working under time pressure in an incentivized way by eliciting the minimum additional payment participants require to complete...

We conducted two fundraising experiments to study the effects (1) of compassion towards the beneficiary, and (2) of giving participants an opportunity to attribute small donations to luck. We find that exposing the participants to a plea to help the beneficiary increases the average donation....