MUES - Invitation to research seminars | MUES

mues.econ.muni.cz | 13 Nov 2023, 6:10

Dear colleague,

join us for the upcoming MUES seminars. All seminars are conducted in English and are comprised of a 50-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute discussion session. These seminars are open to the public, and we warmly welcome spontaneous attendance. If you would like to have a bilateral conversation with any of our guests, join us for lunch, or attend the dinner with guests, please let us know in advance.

With best wishes,
MUES team

Internal Research Seminar - Economics | 26 November - 12:00 PM | Academic Club | Laura Fónadová | Department of Public Economics

Segmented Acceptability of Interactions with the Roma in the Czech Republic: Latent Class Analysis of Contact Types

Prejudice and social distance have long been the topic of research in the social sciences and are significantly linked to the majority's relationship with various minorities, particularly ethnic groups. In this study, we explore how the attitudes of the majority population towards the Roma differ according to the intensity (degree) and types of contact with Roma individuals. The theoretical framework is grounded in contact theory, which emphasizes the role of intergroup interactions in reducing prejudice. Recent research shows the importance of the context and the type or form of contact, which can significantly influence prejudiced attitudes. Based on these research findings, we analyze whether the acceptability of interactions with the Roma in the Czech context differs depending on various types of interethnic contacts. Descriptive analysis reveals a slight correlation between the intensity of contacts and its acceptability. However, advanced latent class analysis (LCA) indicates that this relationship is not uniform (one-dimensional). We identified four distinct social groups differing in both their interethnic contact patterns and affective attitudes toward the Roma. These results emphasize that when testing the contact hypothesis, it is important to consider not only the intensity but also the types of interethnic interactions.

Recovering true economic preferences in the presence of behavioral attenuation bias

The notion of a “preference” lies at the heart of economic analysis. Yet, because preferences are typically inferred from observed behavior - and because such behavior is often shaped by cognitive biases and bounded rationality - this raises a fundamental challenge: how can we recover individuals’ true economic preferences when their decisions are systematically distorted? This paper addresses that challenge by proposing a novel method to identify true preferences in the presence of attenuation biases - a pervasive distortion that arises when individuals are uncertain about what choice is optimal and thus respond only weakly to economic incentives. Under mild assumptions, the two elicitations allow the direction and magnitude of the bias to be bounded; and under stronger but plausible assumptions, the method delivers a unique inference of the true preference. Evidence from two experiments confirms the validity and generalizability of the method. First, in an induced-value experiment that approximates product demand decisions, observable demand curves imply non-trivial attenuation bias and associated welfare distortions. Second, in a contingent valuation experiment where people evaluate policy programs, observable valuations are insensitive to the scope of the program – a pattern known as “scope neglect”. Applying the proposed method shows that scope neglect is largely attributable to attenuation bias and that true sensitivity of valuation to scopes are likely much higher than from observable behavior.

This event is both online and in person. Join the Teams meeting

The Economics Pipeline: Entry, Leakages, and Outcomes

Despite the potential of economics to serve as a vehicle for social mobility and its impact on society, persistent disparities in participation and progression raise important concerns for the discipline. This presentation examines the structure of the economics education pipeline in the UK, focusing on patterns of entry, attrition, and academic outcomes across key demographic dimensions. Using institutional-level data from UK universities, I analyse variations in enrolment, continuation rates, and degree attainment by gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic background. The analysis identifies systemic barriers and points of attrition that disproportionately affect students from underrepresented groups.

Breaking the Early Bell: Lessons from the First Statewide Mandate on School Start Times

This study investigates the effects of California’s Senate Bill 328 (SB 328)—the first state legislation requiring later school start times for middle and high schools—on adolescent sleep, mental health, and academic outcomes. Drawing on data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBS) for high school students (grades 9–12) and the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), which includes sleep duration for adolescents aged 15 above and bedtimes and wake-up times for children under 13, we analyze shifts in sleep patterns and mental health metrics. We then examine the impact on academic performance using district-level data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA) for students in grades 3–8 and SAT scores for high school students. Employing difference-in-differences (DID) and matched DID methods, we find that SB 328 led to a 14% increase in the share of students sleeping at least 8 hours per night, consistent with CDC recommendations for adolescents. We find suggestive evidence of a reduction in certain mental health problems, particularly difficulties concentrating, though the results are imprecisely estimated and not robust across specifications. Finally, we find evidence of significant improvements in math and English scores in grades 3–8 (approximately a .1 standard deviation increase), while SAT scores rose by 2%. We uncover substantial heterogeneity in the policy's effects, with larger improvements in sleep and mental health among boys and Hispanic students, and larger academic gains among Hispanic students.

Hitting Rock Bottom: Economic Hardship and Cheating

This paper investigates whether severe economic hardship undermines preferences for honesty. We use controlled, incentivized measures of cheating for private benefit in a large, diverse sample of 5,676 Kenyans, exploiting three complementary sources of variation: experimentally manipulated monetary incentives, randomized increase in salience of own financial situation, and the Covid‑19 income shock, exploiting randomized survey timing as a natural experiment with respondents surveyed before and during the crisis. We find that severe economic hardship—marked by a 50% drop in monthly earnings— leads to a sharp increase in the prevalence of cheating, from 43% to 72%. Cheating behavior is highly responsive to financial incentives and increases gradually with prolonged hardship. The effects are largest among the most economically impacted and are amplified when salience of own financial situation is experimentally increased. Predictable seasonal income fluctuations, in contrast, do not affect honesty. The results demonstrate that while most individuals exhibit a strong preference against cheating under normal conditions, severe economic hardship substantially erodes honesty.

When Peers Buy In or Stay Out: Evidence on Social Learning and Utility in Parental Investment Decisions from a Field Experiment in China

How do parents respond to their peers’ choices when deciding whether and how much to invest in their children’s extracurricular education? Using a field experiment, we identify distinct mechanisms through which peer information shapes investment decisions: positive and negative social learning, as well as social utility. Consistent with positive social learning, we find that peers’ willingness to purchase a course increases both parents’ willingness to purchase and their level of investment. Negative social learning effects, however, depend on the nature of the signal. Explicit peer criticism significantly reduces both willingness to invest and spending, whereas peer non-purchase without negative evaluation has no effect. Social utility effects also vary by peer purchase price: high-price peer purchases increase spending, whereas low-price peer purchases raise a parent’s willingness to invest but do not lead to higher expenditures. We further document heterogeneity in responses to negative peer signals across socioeconomic and residential contexts. Using an enhanced causal forest approach to complement our regression analyses, we find that peer non-purchase without explicit criticism increases purchase preference among parents in less central areas with smaller socioeconomic gaps, but reduces it among parents in central areas with larger gaps.

Upcoming webinars you do don’t want to miss:

Wednesday 01 November 2023 16:00 - 17:00

Carol Graham (Brookings Institution) Book Launch: The Power of Hope: How the Science of Well-Being Can Save Us From Despair

Recurring Zoom link , Meeting ID: 811 8883 1120, Passcode: 448875

Suggested seminar series:

Vienna: WU Seminar Series, CEU, University of Vienna

Prague: CERGE-EI, VSE Prague

International: IOS Regensburg, LSE W ellbeing Seminars (recordings), Markus' Academy webinar (youtube recordings)

Brno (irregular): FSS MUNI, PEF MENDELU

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