Bayesian persuasion with costly information acquisition
Matysková, Ludmila
2018 - English A sender who chooses a signal to reveal to a receiver can often influence the receiver’s subsequent actions. Is persuasion more difficult when the receiver has her own sources of information? Does the receiver benefit from having additional information sources? We consider a Bayesian persuasion model extended to a receiver’s endogenous acquisition of information under an entropy-based cost commonly used in rational inattention. A sender’s optimal signal can be computed from standard Bayesian persuasion subject to an additional constraint: the receiver never gathers her own costly information. We further determine a finite set of the sender’s signals satisfying the additional constraint in which some optimal signal must be contained. The set is characterized by linear conditions using the receiver’s utility and information cost parameters. The new method is also applicable to a standard Bayesian persuasion model and can simplify, sometimes dramatically, the search for a sender’s optimal signal (as opposed to a standard concavification technique used to solve these models). We show that the ‘threat’ of additional learning weakly decreases the sender’s expected equilibrium payoff. However, the outcome can be worse not only for the sender, but also for the receiver.\n \n Keywords: Bayesian persuasion; rational inattention; costly information acquisition Fulltext is available at external website. Bayesian persuasion with costly information acquisition

A sender who chooses a signal to reveal to a receiver can often influence the receiver’s subsequent actions. Is persuasion more difficult when the receiver has her own sources of information? Does the ...

Matysková, Ludmila
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Selective sampling with information-storage constraints
Jehiel, P.; Steiner, Jakub
2018 - English A decision-maker acquires payoff-relevant information until she reaches her storing capacity, at\nwhich point she either terminates the decision-making and chooses an action, or discards some\ninformation. By conditioning the probability of termination on the information collected, she\ncontrols the correlation between the payoff state and her terminal action. We provide an\noptimality condition for the emerging stochastic choice. The condition highlights the benefits of\nselective memory applied to the extracted signals. The constrained-optimal choice rule exhibits (i) confirmation bias, (ii) speed-accuracy complementarity, (iii) overweighting of rare events, and (iv) salience effect. Keywords: bounded rationality; cognitive constraints; information processing Fulltext is available at external website. Selective sampling with information-storage constraints

A decision-maker acquires payoff-relevant information until she reaches her storing capacity, at\nwhich point she either terminates the decision-making and chooses an action, or discards ...

Jehiel, P.; Steiner, Jakub
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Entrepreneurship in the information age: an empirical analysis of the European regions
Pleticha, Petr
2018 - English Decelerating productivity in recent years raised questions about technology diffusion in the economy. This study focuses on one particular diffusion channel, entrepreneurship, and inspects the mechanics through which it interacts with digitalization. The composite indicator of digitalization is split into separate components which enables analyzing digitalization’s interplay with entrepreneurship as a dynamic process. Based on the econometric analysis of Eurostat regional data covering the period 2008-2015, I find significant links between digitalization and entrepreneurship. Specifically, digitalization is associated with an increase in the rate at which firms are created and with a decrease in their survival rate after 3 years. The paper demonstrates that the interaction is dynamic in its nature as the effects of initial stages of digitalization reverse or vanish in its later phases. A sectoral analysis shows the persistence of the results across industries.\nMoreover, there is evidence that professional, scientific and technical activities are especially sensitive towards digitalization, experiencing strong, yet short-term shock in the firms’ birth, death, and survival rates. Accounting for geographic variation reveals heterogeneity between regions but not large enough to affect the overall results. Keywords: digitalization; entrepreneurship; technology dissemination Available at various institutes of the ASCR Entrepreneurship in the information age: an empirical analysis of the European regions

Decelerating productivity in recent years raised questions about technology diffusion in the economy. This study focuses on one particular diffusion channel, entrepreneurship, and inspects the ...

Pleticha, Petr
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Social effectiveness of the Czech public administration
Bohatá, Marie; Putnová, A.; Cebáková, A.; Rašticová, M.; Bédiová, M.
2018 - English Keywords: public administration; good governance; ethics Available at various institutes of the ASCR Social effectiveness of the Czech public administration

Bohatá, Marie; Putnová, A.; Cebáková, A.; Rašticová, M.; Bédiová, M.
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Whoever has will be given more: child endowment and human capital investment
Borga, Liyousew Gebremedhin; Pidkuyko, M.
2018 - English Using a unique longitudinal survey from Ethiopia, we investigate whether resource constrained\nparents reinforce or attenuate differences in early abilities between their children. We propose a simple model that allows for sibling interactions. To overcome the endogeneity associated with measures of endowment, we construct a measure of human capital at birth that is plausibly net of prenatal investment. We estimate a sibling fixed-effect model to account for bias due to unobserved family-specific heterogeneity. We find that parents reinforce educational inequality: inherently healthy children are more likely to attend preschool, be enrolled in elementary school, and have more expenses incurred towards their education. Health inputs are allocated in a compensatory manner.\n Keywords: cognitive ability; health endowment; intrahousehold allocation Fulltext is available at external website. Whoever has will be given more: child endowment and human capital investment

Using a unique longitudinal survey from Ethiopia, we investigate whether resource constrained\nparents reinforce or attenuate differences in early abilities between their children. We propose a simple ...

Borga, Liyousew Gebremedhin; Pidkuyko, M.
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Discrimination against workers with visible tattoos: experimental evidence from Germany
Jibuti, Daviti
2018 - English We use a correspondence testing approach to study discrimination against applicants with visible tattoos in the German labor market. The method has been widely employed in discrimination literature, however, the majority of papers examine objects of discrimination that are exogenously given (gender, race, ethnicity, etc.). The design of our experiment allows us to study the extent of discrimination against choice-based characteristics. We send fictitious applications to online job postings in the banking sector. Otherwise identical applications differ only in the picture attached: in the treatment group the applicants have a visible tattoo. The\nextent of discrimination is measured by the difference in callback rates. We find that candidates without visible tattoos have, on average, a 13 percentage point higher callback rate, or an increase in the callback rate of 54%. Following Akerlof and Kranton (2000), our results once more highlight the centrality of identity. Keywords: labor market discrimination; field experiment; visible tattoo Fulltext is available at external website. Discrimination against workers with visible tattoos: experimental evidence from Germany

We use a correspondence testing approach to study discrimination against applicants with visible tattoos in the German labor market. The method has been widely employed in discrimination literature, ...

Jibuti, Daviti
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Social integration of immigrants and the attitude of the native population in European countries
Sargsyan, Vahan
2018 - English In this paper, I focus on the relationships between the attitude of the native population towards immigrants and immigration (ATII) in 20 European countries and the level of social integration and perceived discrimination of first and second generation immigrants in those countries. The stringency of naturalization policies in the host countries is also taken into consideration as a mechanism of the development of these relationships. The results confirm that a country’s naturalization policies fairly represent most ATII indicators, and that immigrants feel less discriminated against in more welcoming societies. However, no systematic relationship was revealed between the attitude of the native population and the social integration of immigrants. On the other hand, the results suggest lower perceived discrimination and higher social integration of first generation immigrants in countries where the naturalization status of immigrants is more secured, and the possibility of dual nationality is more restricted. The results also show that the perceived discrimination of immigrants does not decline with the duration of residence in the host countries, but the latter revealed a positive relationship with the social integration of immigrants.\n Keywords: naturalization policy; social integration; perceived discrimination Fulltext is available at external website. Social integration of immigrants and the attitude of the native population in European countries

In this paper, I focus on the relationships between the attitude of the native population towards immigrants and immigration (ATII) in 20 European countries and the level of social integration and ...

Sargsyan, Vahan
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Anti-social behavior in groups
Bauer, Michal; Cahlíková, J.; Celik Katreniak, D.; Chytilová, Julie; Cingl, L.; Želinský, T.
2018 - English This paper provides strong evidence supporting the long-standing speculation that decisionmaking in groups has a dark side, by magnifying the prevalence of anti-social behavior towards outsiders. A large-scale experiment implemented in Slovakia and Uganda (N=2,309) reveals that deciding in a group with randomly assigned peers increases the prevalence of anti-social behavior that reduces everyone’s payoff but which improves the relative position of own group. The effects are driven by the influence of a group context on individual behavior, rather than by group deliberation. The observed patterns are strikingly similar on both continents. Keywords: antisocial behavior; aggressive competitiveness; group membership Fulltext is available at external website. Anti-social behavior in groups

This paper provides strong evidence supporting the long-standing speculation that decisionmaking in groups has a dark side, by magnifying the prevalence of anti-social behavior towards outsiders. A ...

Bauer, Michal; Cahlíková, J.; Celik Katreniak, D.; Chytilová, Julie; Cingl, L.; Želinský, T.
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Do higher wages produce career politicians? Evidence from two discontinuity designs
Palguta, J.; Pertold, Filip
2018 - English Wages paid to politicians affect both the selection of candidates into electoral races and the on-the-job performance incentives of incumbents. We differentiate between selection and incentive effects using two regression discontinuity designs based on: 1) population thresholds shifting politicians' wages and 2) electoral seat thresholds splitting candidates into those who narrowly won or lost. We find that higher wages do not increase the electoral incumbency advantage, suggesting that the incentive effect of higher wages does not impact re-election rates. We further show that higher wages motivate narrowly elected incumbents to run again much less often than past narrowly non-elected candidates. Keywords: re-election; political selection; electoral competition Fulltext is available at external website. Do higher wages produce career politicians? Evidence from two discontinuity designs

Wages paid to politicians affect both the selection of candidates into electoral races and the on-the-job performance incentives of incumbents. We differentiate between selection and incentive effects ...

Palguta, J.; Pertold, Filip
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018

Social effectiveness of public institutions through the eyes of citizens
Bohatá, Marie; Putnová, A.; Rašticová, M.; Bédiová, M.; Cebáková, A.
2018 - English Keywords: effectiveness; public administration; citizens Available at various institutes of the ASCR Social effectiveness of public institutions through the eyes of citizens

Bohatá, Marie; Putnová, A.; Rašticová, M.; Bédiová, M.; Cebáková, A.
Národohospodářský ústav, 2018