We offer an evolutionary model of the emergence of concepts of salience through similarity-based learning. When an individual faces a new decision problem, she chooses an action that she perceives as similar to actions that, when chosen in similar previous problems, led to favourable outcomes....

Vendettas occur in many real world settings where rivals compete for a prize, e.g., winning an election or a competitive promotion, by engaging in retaliatory aggressive behavior. We present a benchmark experiment where two players have an initial probability of winning a prize. Retaliatory...

Intra-household efficiency is tested by using experimental data from variants of a public good game from 240 couples in rural Uganda. Spouses frequently do not maximise surplus from cooperation and realise a greater surplus when women are in charge of allocating the common pool. Women contribute...

We examine firms' motivation to change their main bank and how this switch affects loans, interest payments and firm performance after switching. Applying treatment effect analysis on unique firm-bank matched Ukrainian data, we find that larger and highly leveraged companies are more likely to...

We investigate situations in which players make costly contributions as group mem- bers in a group conflict, and at the same time engage in contest with fellow group members to appropriate the possible reward. We introduce within group power asymmetry and complementarity in members' efforts and...

There exist large variations in juvenile sex ratios across districts and social groups in India. Economic and cultural factors have been advanced as contending explanations for these variations. We propose a household optimization model that integrates cultural explanations with economic ones....

Is the rapid growth of experimental research in economics evidence of a new scientific spirit at work or merely fresh evidence of a misplaced desire to ape the methods of natural sciences? It is often argued that economic experiments are artificial in some sense which tends to render the results...

In this paper we introduce a unique and influential psychoanalytical theory based upon a theory of linguistics developed by Jaques Lacan. Although Lacan is primarily concerned with psychoanalytical issues, his work has already entered other theoretical realms such as sociology, philosophy and...

This paper investigates the relative empirical performance of 3 stories of error' in decision-making experiments - finding that the constant-error-probability story does not fit particularly well, but that the white-noise and stochastic preference stories perform considerably better. The paper...

This paper analyses how sequential purchase of the different components assembled in some consumption good affects firm's pricing behaviour and compatibility decisions. With incompatible brands, consumers who wish to purchase some component of an alternative brand are forced to replace the...