Rank and response: A field experiment on peer information and water use behavior

Perception of peer rank, or how we perform relative to our peers, can be a powerful motivator. While research exists on the effect of social information on decision making, there is less work on how ranked comparisons with our peers influence our behavior. This paper outlines a field experiment conducted with 3896 households in Castro Valley, California, which uses household mailers with various forms of social information and peer rank messaging to motivate water conservation. The experiment tests the effect of a visible peer rank on water use, and how the competitive framing of rank information influences behavioral response. The results show that households with relatively low or high water use in the pre-treatment period responded differently to how rank information was framed. I find that a neutrally-framed peer rank caused a small “boomerang effect” (i.e., an increase in average water use) for low water use households, but this effect was eliminated by competitive framing. At the same time, a competitively-framed peer rank demotivated high water use households, increasing their average water use over the full period of the experiment. This result is supported by evidence that the competitive frame on rank information increased water use for households who ranked “last” in the peer group – a detrimental “last place effect” from competitively-framed rankings.     

Exploitation aversion: When financial incentives fail to motivate agents

Studies of the principal-agent relationship find that monetary incentives work in many instances but that they can also backfire. Various mechanisms for this failure have been examined (e.g., intrinsic motivation, image concerns). We posit that an aversion to being exploited, i.e., being used instrumentally for another’s benefit, can also cause incentives to fail. Using an experiment we find that compliance is lower for exploitative principals compared to neutral ones despite using the same contracts. To corroborate our results we show that surveyed “exploitation aversion” mediates this effect. Our results have implications for the design and implementation of incentives within organizations.     

Rent-seeking and competitive preferences

In this experiment, I examine the extent to which competitive social preferences can explain over-bidding in rent-seeking contests. The Human treatment is a standard two-player contest. In the Robot treatment, a single player bids against a computerized player, eliminating potential social preference motives. The results show no difference in bids between treatments at the aggregate level. Further analysis shows evidence of heterogeneous treatment effects between impulsive and reflective subjects. Moreover, impulsive subjects are more likely than reflective subjects to deviate qualitatively from the shape of the theoretical best response function.     

UCP600对我国出口贸易操作的影响

在中国近万亿美元的出口贸易中,信用证结算的金额大约占30%左右。作为信用证领域的新规则UCP600于2007年7月1日已正式生效,UCP600与UCP500相比无论在结构上还是内容上都有较大改动,这必将对出口贸易操作带来广泛的影响。现从UCP600的修订与主要创新入手分析UCP600对出口贸易操作的影响及出口商在使用UCP600时应注意的问题。     

关于Feigenbaum型泛函方程的C^1解

利用Schauder不动点定理、自同胚和紧凸子集的相关性质研究Feigenbaum型泛函方程的连续可微解的存在性和唯一性.     

基于Delphi/Access的C/S系统设计

C/S系统采用Access作后台数据库,具有性能稳定、数据交换迅速、数据安全、维护方便等特点,可视化编程语言Delphi具有丰富的编程环境、友好的界面、高速的编译器、强大的数据库开发功能,文章介绍了基于Delphi/Access的C/S系统软、硬件设计方法和技术。     

基于C／S和B／S混合模式的多媒体电子阅览室管理系统设计

高职院校多媒体电子阅览室是用户获取信息和学习的重要场所,如何能进一步完善和发展它需要有效的管理系统和具有更高素质的管理队伍。从网络化、一体化、多元化的理念出发,采用三层C/S和B/S两种混合模式,在用户管理,资源管理,安全管理三个方面展开论述,为现代多媒体电子阅览室提出了方便实用、安全有效的管理系统设计方案,以供大家探讨。     

欠发达地区技术进步与经济增长的实证研究——以甘肃省为例

欠发达地区经济增长由于受到市场化程度、资源配置效率、工业发展基础等影响,技术进步转化生产力方面并不高,经济增长效应不佳。通过用甘肃省经济数据拟合广义柯布-道格拉斯函数,计算出广义技术进步以及资本、劳动和技术进步对经济增长的贡献,得出甘肃省经济发展还处于高资本、劳动投入推动经济增长阶段,经济发展处于粗放型模式,科技进步转化效果并不明显。