Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100035
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$376,000.00
Summary
Affirmative action & its unintended effects: an experimental investigation. Affirmative action policies traditionally favour members of disadvantaged groups in labour markets such as women, elderly, and non-white. They are widely implemented internationally in employment, contracting, and education often despite a lack of knowledge about societal impacts. This project aims to use both field and laboratory experiments to study how individuals react to affirmative action and investigate sabotage, ....Affirmative action & its unintended effects: an experimental investigation. Affirmative action policies traditionally favour members of disadvantaged groups in labour markets such as women, elderly, and non-white. They are widely implemented internationally in employment, contracting, and education often despite a lack of knowledge about societal impacts. This project aims to use both field and laboratory experiments to study how individuals react to affirmative action and investigate sabotage, cooperation, and competition between disadvantaged and advantaged groups. The main hypothesis is that affirmative action can increase sabotage, harm cooperation and push competition in ways that endanger the well functioning of labour markets. This project aims to provide new insights for policy makers and managers on the relevance of unintended effects of affirmative action.Read moreRead less
The altruism of the arts customer. The altruism of the arts customer. This project aims to understand customers’ philanthropic motives within the customer-organisation relationship, by combining existing data with behavioural-economic motivated field and lab experiments to study Sydney Opera House customers’ motives for philanthropy. Due to rising costs, budget cuts and greater community outreach, many art organizations increasingly rely on their customers for philanthropic support. The findings ....The altruism of the arts customer. The altruism of the arts customer. This project aims to understand customers’ philanthropic motives within the customer-organisation relationship, by combining existing data with behavioural-economic motivated field and lab experiments to study Sydney Opera House customers’ motives for philanthropy. Due to rising costs, budget cuts and greater community outreach, many art organizations increasingly rely on their customers for philanthropic support. The findings are expected to broaden and deepen theoretical understanding of altruism and preferences for charitable behaviour within the social science literature, and provide art organisations with empirically-tested approaches to improve their philanthropy.Read moreRead less
The Economics of Envy. Envy is persistent and universal. It may help explain why humans are relatively less hierarchical than other primate species and prone to egalitarianism. Envy may help explain the formation of political and social structures and taxation and redistribution policies. This project will examine how in-group and out-group bias, social/economic mobility, and luck versus ability exacerbate and mitigate social preference and when these factors result in destructive and/or constru ....The Economics of Envy. Envy is persistent and universal. It may help explain why humans are relatively less hierarchical than other primate species and prone to egalitarianism. Envy may help explain the formation of political and social structures and taxation and redistribution policies. This project will examine how in-group and out-group bias, social/economic mobility, and luck versus ability exacerbate and mitigate social preference and when these factors result in destructive and/or constructive envy. This investigation contributes to the understanding of envy and its behavioural manifestations. Understanding the correlates of social preferences and the resulting behaviour is important for developing policy to reduce destructive envy and encourage constructive envy. Read moreRead less
An economic study of charitable giving. This project aims to study the motivations for charitable giving and helping behaviour and how these motivations interact with external factors under different institutions.Recent data from 2015 show that charitable donations in Australia have fallen to a 30-year low. Although real GDP has increased, inequality has risen. Social norms and perceptions relating to disadvantaged people can influence donor motivations. The anticipated goal is to design initiat ....An economic study of charitable giving. This project aims to study the motivations for charitable giving and helping behaviour and how these motivations interact with external factors under different institutions.Recent data from 2015 show that charitable donations in Australia have fallen to a 30-year low. Although real GDP has increased, inequality has risen. Social norms and perceptions relating to disadvantaged people can influence donor motivations. The anticipated goal is to design initiatives that influence prosocial activities such as charitable giving, redistribution, refugee intake and migrant integration, and improve understanding of the underlying mechanisms of prosocial behaviour.Read moreRead less
The role of moral sentiments and emotions in human nature: an interdisciplinary empirical approach. This project investigates the effects of moral sentiments and emotions on decision processes. It will identify states of physiological arousal, determine whether a significant genetic effect is present, assess the relevance of individuals' environment and inherited values, and provide a better biological micro-foundation for human behaviour.
Applying behavioural insights to the tax system in Australia. Applying behavioural insights to the tax system in Australia. This project aims to improve compliance and payment in the Australian tax system. It aims to tackle debts of individuals and businesses, the most challenging aspect of tax systems, by applying behavioural insights to design innovative payment interventions and conducting rigorous randomised controlled trials to evaluate their effects. An empirical analysis will account for ....Applying behavioural insights to the tax system in Australia. Applying behavioural insights to the tax system in Australia. This project aims to improve compliance and payment in the Australian tax system. It aims to tackle debts of individuals and businesses, the most challenging aspect of tax systems, by applying behavioural insights to design innovative payment interventions and conducting rigorous randomised controlled trials to evaluate their effects. An empirical analysis will account for heterogeneity in treatment responses, and the findings will be combined with a study of regulatory and administrative processes to support the ultimate goal of a legitimate, fair, cost-effective and responsive tax system.Read moreRead less
The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to deve ....The economics of cooperative behaviour. Free-riding and rent-seeking, such as tax avoidance and nepotism, are group-undermining activities that societies including Australia continuously struggle with. The aim of this project is to develop a fuller understanding of how to protect human groups from these socially damaging group-related behaviours. Drawing on a conceptual grounding that combines ideas from across social science, the project aims to implement a suite of economic experiments to develop a view of humans' cooperative behaviour that unites several strands of economics literature and offers new insights about how institutions that counter free-riding and rent-seeking arise and are maintained.Read moreRead less
Are claims of transparency to be believed? This project tests if leaders, when given a choice, actually reveal a preference for transparency (that is to share all relevant information with their followers). This project analyses the circumstances under which leaders choose transparency and how their decisions and their reputations for transparency affect followers' behaviour and overall group cooperation.
Incentivizing Attendance and Performance at School: A Field Experiment. This project aims to develop and evaluate an incentive-based program to increase the school attendance and performance of Indigenous students to help alleviate current inequalities between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Only 43 per cent of Indigenous Australians graduate from high school compared to 78 per cent for non-Indigenous Australians. The study plans to investigate whether high value rewards (e.g. driving ....Incentivizing Attendance and Performance at School: A Field Experiment. This project aims to develop and evaluate an incentive-based program to increase the school attendance and performance of Indigenous students to help alleviate current inequalities between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. Only 43 per cent of Indigenous Australians graduate from high school compared to 78 per cent for non-Indigenous Australians. The study plans to investigate whether high value rewards (e.g. driving licence instruction) are effective in incentivising year 11 and 12 students. It also aims to examine whether the way incentives are provided — ex-post as traditionally done or ex-ante in the form of a trust-based contract — increase high school completion rates of Indigenous students where previous incentive schemes have failed.Read moreRead less
Behavioural Econ & Field Experiments to Improve Plasma & Bone Marrow Supply. Plasma and bone marrow save and improve the quality of many lives. Yet Australia's domestic volunteer supply fails to meet Australia's needs even when supplemented by costly imports. This project involves a series of field experiments, based on behavioural economic theories, designed to understand charitable behaviour and how to motivate and increase plasma and bone marrow supply. The project aims to test the value of m ....Behavioural Econ & Field Experiments to Improve Plasma & Bone Marrow Supply. Plasma and bone marrow save and improve the quality of many lives. Yet Australia's domestic volunteer supply fails to meet Australia's needs even when supplemented by costly imports. This project involves a series of field experiments, based on behavioural economic theories, designed to understand charitable behaviour and how to motivate and increase plasma and bone marrow supply. The project aims to test the value of motivational factors, including commitment devices, reciprocity and altruism, to increasing donations. The project aims to advance scientific knowledge of people's motivation to perform substantial altruistic actions (in terms of both time and pain), to provide effective methods to increase donations that save lives and to improve national health.Read moreRead less