Collective knowledge is significantly affected by information about others’ viewpoints. However, under what conditions does the “wisdom of crowds” help versus harm knowledge of factual information? In this experiment, we present subjects with the task of answering 50 factual true or false...

Collective knowledge is significantly affected by information about others’ viewpoints. However, under what conditions does the “wisdom of crowds” help versus harm knowledge of factual information? In this experiment, we present subjects with the task of answering 50 factual true or false...

We study the effects of request and threat on trust and trustworthy behavior in an investment game, both theoretically and experimentally. Consistent with the theoretical predictions, the experimental results show that the request mechanism is able to lift up the overall trust level, due to the...

In a social network in which friendly and rival bilateral links can be formed, how do alliances between decision-makers form, and what determines whether a conflict will arise? We study a network formation game between ex-ante symmetric players in the laboratory to examine the dynamics of...

A relationship between lying behavior and social preferences has often been proposed in explaining patterns of lying aversion (ex. Erat and Gneezy, 2012; Houser, Vetter and Winter, 2012; Maggian and Villeval, 2015). We assess subjects' preferences over social allocation and their lying tendencies in the...

Evidence increasingly points to the importance of reference-dependence in predicting consumer behavior. We utilize detailed data from penny auctions, which first appeared as an internet phenomenon in the late 2000's, to uncover how consumers' prior experiences predict their willingness to try a...

Recent policy discussions have debated whether governments should treat state-owned and private enterprises equally or adopt different policies towards each type of enterprise. Such questions are pertinent for difficult economic climates in which government subsidy towards struggling state-owned...

As consumers in countries around the world become increasingly aware of and sensitive to the products that their foreign counterparts consume, a natural question is what predictions do classic trade frameworks hold when incorporating social comparison-based preferences? We analyze this question...

In a school choice mechanism, school priorities are often based on student exam scores, by which student true ability may not be perfectly revealed. An ex-post fair matching mechanism (for example, Serial Dictatorship) can be undesirable in that it is not ex-ante fair: it may not match students...