Robert Parker is an esteemed, somewhat controversial wine-critic. Since 1978, Parker has assigned every wine he tastes a score between 50 and 100. He uses this method to communicate to both consumers and producers his opinion of the quality, taste, and aging potential of the wine. Between the years 2005 and 2015, Robert Parker graded 115 wines from the French region of Provence. The goal of this thesis is to determine whether and to what extent Robert Parker’s grades affect the price of wine. Through descriptive statistics and regression analysis of Robert Parker’s grade and year of production on the average price, I assess the effects of one expert’s opinion on the price of Provençal wine. My results show that, while there is a statistically significant relationship between Robert Parker’s grade and the price of wine, the relationship between the two variables has not varied considerably over the past ten years. In addition, my results show an indifference on the part of Provençal wine-producers in regards to pricing based on the grades their wines receive from the wine-critic. This led me to the conclusion that the relationship between price of wine and grade is not as strong as hypothesized. This is an interesting finding given the prevalence of consumer reports and expert-opinion based journals for consumable goods.

Imperfect patient adherence to treatment leads to adverse individual and social outcomes: it has negative effect on patient health and, consequently, it increases health care costs. The adherence is low particularly in chronically ill patients with complex regimen, such as hemodialysis. This thesis provides an in-depth study of the phenomenon and presents a survey targeted at hemodialysis patients in the Czech Republic. The survey assesses prevalence of nonadherence, identifies predictors of nonadherence, and analyzes patients' attitude to a hypothetical incentive program to promote adherence. Then, an optimal design of an intervention to promote adherence is discussed. Results show that 72% of patients do not adhere to one or more areas of hemodialysis treatment. Prevalence of nonadherence is highest for following fluid restrictions (62.8%) and diet guidelines (55.7%). On the contrary, medication and appointment nonadherence is not frequent. Strongest predictors for nonadherence are: young age, male sex, treatment for depression, number of prescribed pills, and length of dialysis treatment. Most of patients (83%) indicated that they would change their behavior when involved in an incentive program to promote adherence. With regard to broad prevalence of nonadherence, an intervention targeted at...

Present work describes two ways of application of psychological findings to economic theory of advertisement. Psychological findings may help with evaluation of different economic approaches of the study of advertisement. Evidence from psychology of persuasion is applied to the question, whether advertisement is used as a source of information. The work then inquires into the possibility, that advertisement can enhance utility. Summarized studies indicate, that it may indeed be so. During the inquiry, neuroeconomics is applied and it's basic methods are presented. The concluding part describes ramifications of chosen approach.

Abstract

The world is facing a global climate crisis and a collective step towards a more sustainable lifestyle is of importance. Food consumption accounts for a large part of an individuals’ total emissions and as the production of meat generally emits less green-house-gases than that of plant-based alternatives, changing towards a more plant-based diet can be one step to a more sustainable lifestyle. This study outlines a field experiment at a university cafeteria where the menu order was altered by random assignment. It is tested if placing the vegetarian option at the top of the menu has a causal effect on the share of vegetarian option sold that day, i.e. if it is possible to nudge customers to choose a more sustainable option. Using ordinary least squares and a beta regression models, the results do not show a positive treatment effect on the share of vegetarian option sold but do find a significantly average negative effect of 5.5 percentage points on the share of meat option sold. This effect it translated to an average negative effect of 6 percent on the daily emissions due to food sales at the cafeteria.

No estudo da desonestidade no comportamento econômico são poucas as pesquisas que avaliaram um fator essencial para qualquer tomada de decisão: o tempo. Não há na literatura trabalhos que estudem o comportamento desonesto em uma extensão de pressão temporal maior do que a dos segundos. Assim, se faz necessário avaliar a influência do tempo sobre o comportamento desonesto nos diferentes níveis em que ele se apresenta. O objetivo do trabalho foi verificar se grupos trapaça, sob diferentes pressões temporais, relatam ter completado um número maior de matrizes do que grupos sem-trapaça sob as mesmas condições temporais, porém sem a possibilidade de trapacear na tarefa. Noventa e dois participantes universitários foram separados em grupos sem-trapaça e trapaça. Na Tarefa das Matrizes, os participantes dos grupos sem-trapaça, que não poderiam agir de forma desonesta, receberam uma folha de testes e uma folha de resposta. A folha de testes continha 20 matrizes, cada uma com 12 números decimais. Os participantes tiveram 2,5; 5; ou 10 minutos, dependendo do grupo alocado, para encontrar dois números, por matriz, que adicionados, resultavam em dez. Neste experimento, pagou-se um real para cada matriz que o participante afirmava ter resolvido. Ao fim do tempo, os participantes contaram o número de matrizes que resolveram, o escreveram na folha de resposta, e levaram as folhas ao experimentador, que verificou os números e os pagou. Os participantes do grupo trapaça, que poderiam agir de forma desonesta, realizaram a mesma tarefa. Porém, ao fim do tempo, eles contaram o número de matrizes que resolveram, rasgaram a folha de testes e a descartaram. Depois disso, retornaram às suas cadeiras e escreveram o número de matrizes resolvidas na folha de resposta. Eles então deram a folha de respostas ao experimentador, que os pagou sem verificação. O número de matrizes relatadas como resolvidas foi apresentado pelas médias por minuto sobre o total da duração da tarefa para cada grupo. Os participantes dos grupos trapaça, considerando todas as pressões temporais, relataram ter resolvido mais matrizes do que os participantes dos grupos sem-trapaça (M =1.45, DP = 0.82 vs. M = 1.13, DP = 0.66, F(1;86) = 5.20, p = 0.03). Os participantes do grupo-trapaça, afirmaram ter resolvido mais matrizes, considerando as médias por minuto, que os participantes do grupo-sem-trapaça, ambos sob a pressão temporal de 5 minutos (M = 1.43, DP = 0.78 vs. M = 0.80, DP = 0.43, F(1;28) = 7.42, p = 0.01). Os resultados encontrados corroboram com a literatura que avaliou a trapaça, utilizando a Tarefa das Matrizes sob a pressão temporal de 5 minutos, demonstrando que os participantes agem de forma desonesta quando têm a oportunidade de fazê-lo. No entanto, verificou-se que o mesmo não acontece sob as pressões temporais de 2,5 e 10 minutos, indicando que a pressão temporal modula o comportamento desonesto dos indivíduos de formas diferentes, dependendo a extensão da pressão temporal avaliada / In the study of dishonesty in behavioral economics few studies have evaluated an essential factor for any decision making: time. There are no papers in the literature that study dishonest behavior on a temporal pressure extension greater than that of seconds. Thus, it is necessary to evaluate the influence of time on dishonest behavior in the different levels in which it presents itself. The objective of the study was to verify if \"cheating groups\", under different temporal pressures, report having completed a larger number of matrices than \"non-cheating groups\" under the same temporal conditions, but without the possibility of cheating in the task. Ninety-two university participants were separated into groups without cheating and cheating groups. In the Matrix Task, participants in the no-cheating groups, who could not act dishonestly, received a test sheet and an answer sheet. The test sheet contained 20 matrices, each with 12 decimal numbers. The participants had 2.5; 5; or 10 minutes, depending on the group allocated, to find two numbers, per array, which added up resulted in ten. In this experiment, one real was paid for each matrix that the participant claimed to have solved. At the end of the time, the participants counted the number of matrices that they solved, wrote it on the answer sheet and took the sheets to the experimenter, who checked the numbers and paid them. The participants in the cheating group, who could act dishonestly, performed the same task. However, at the end of time, they counted the number of matrices they solved, ripped the test sheet and discarded it. After that, they returned to their seats and wrote down the number of matrices resolved on the answer sheet. They then gave the answer sheet to the experimenter, who paid them without verification. The number of matrices reported as resolved was presented by means per minute over the total duration of the task for each group. The participants of the cheating groups, considering all the temporal pressures, reported to have solved more matrices than the participants of the non-cheating groups (M = 1.45, SD = 0.82 vs. M = 1.13, SD = 0.66, F (1.86) = 5.20, p = 0.03). The participants in the cheating group stated that they had solved more matrices, considering the means per minute, than the participants in the no-cheating group, both under the 5-minute pressure (M = 1.43, SD = 0.78 vs. M = 0.80 , SD = 0.43, F (1.28) = 7.42, p = 0.01). The results corroborate the literature that evaluated cheating using the Matrix Task under the 5-minute time pressure, demonstrating that participants act dishonestly when they have the opportunity to do so. However, it was found that it does not happen under the time pressures of 2.5 and 10 minutes, indicating that the temporal pressure modulates the dishonest behavior of the individuals in different ways, depending on the extent of the time pressure evaluated

The standing debate regarding how preferences should be defined is still evident in research today. Are they invariant to current endowment as a neoclassical practitioner would proclaim, or reference dependent as a behavioural economist would state? This theoretical discrepancy, regarding how preferences should be defined, when agents are experienced at what they do is found by List (2003) to be non-existing. In recollection of this notation, this thesis investigates how professional agents adopt risk in reference to a point that a neoclassical practitioner would deem irrational. With data on professional golf players on the U.S professional golf tour during 2013-2018, I find evidence that players respond in terms of what risk they adapt to a normatively irrelevant reference point in accordance to what Prospect Theory would predict. Indicating that even experienced agents have reference dependent preference towards risk. To give what the data proclaim a causal interpretation I adopt a quasi-experimental regression kink design. My estimates indicate a causal kink at my artificial threshold but are proven fragile to bandwidth alterations. Even though a causal claim is questionable, a sensitivity analysis finds evidence that my artificial threshold drives the relationship. Supporting the viewpoint that preferences towards risk are reference dependent and that experience does not eradicate the difference between what we do and what we should do.

A Economia Comportamental sob a orientação da Análise do Comportamento consiste em uma área de pesquisa que aplica princípios econômicos para exame de questões comportamentais. Uma de suas concentrações temáticas está voltada ao comportamento de consumir. Nas Ciências Econômicas, uma das principais variáveis identificadas como controladoras do consumo é a renda pessoal. Uma das ferramentas econômicas usadas para descrever esta relação de controle é a Propensão Marginal a Consumir, e o presente experimento propõe um procedimento para reproduzir esta ferramenta com sujeitos não-humanos. Neste intento, oito ratos Wistar foram expostos a uma contingência na qual o número de leds acesos em um painel sinalizava o total de reforçadores disponíveis por sessão (supostamente, uma analogia a renda pessoal). O consumo foi medido pelo volume de reforços liberados em FR10 e pelo número de leds apagados por sessão, uma vez que a liberação de p reforços apagava um led do painel. Os leds do painel que eventualmente não fossem apagados em uma sessão eram preservados para sessões posteriores, permitindo o aumento da renda pessoal dos sujeitos por sessão (supostamente, uma analogia a poupança). Além do acúmulo de poupança, a renda pessoal dos sujeitos variou neste procedimento por manipulações diretas do experimentador, consistindo assim a variável independente. Foram usados dois tipos de reforços, em duas etapas experimentais diferentes: água, um reforço essencial (Etapa 1) e uma solução de 10% sacarose, um reforço supérfluo (Etapa 2). Os resultados mostraram que a variação do número de leds acesos no painel (variações da renda pessoal) produziu variações lineares no consumo, compatíveis com as previsões da Propensão Marginal a Consumir. As principais variáveis foram o nível de privação, o tipo de reforço e o número de sujeitos. Discute-se a adição de novas variáveis experimentais para aprofundar-se no exame da relação entre renda pessoal e consumo / Behavioral Economics under the behavior analysis orientation is an area of research that applies economic principles to analytical-behavioral issues. One of its main research topics are consumption behaviors. In Economics, one of the main controlling variables of consumption is personal income. One of the economic tools used to describe this controlling relation is the Marginal Propensity to Consume, and the present study proposes an experimental procedure to reproduce this tool with non-human subjects. To this purpose, eight rats were exposed to a contingency in which the number of lit LEDs in a panel signaled the total number of reinforcers available per session (supposedly an analogy to personal income). Consumption was measured by the volume of liquids released under FR10 and the number of LEDs switched off per session (since the release of \"p\" reinforcements switched one LED off in the panel). The LEDs that were still lit after the session ended were preserved for later sessions, allowing the increase of personal income per session (supposedly, an analogy to savings). Besides the accumulation of savings, personal income varied by direct manipulation, and was the independent variable of this experiment. Two types of reinforcements were used in two different experimental phases: water, an essential good (Phase 1) and a 10% sucrose solution, a superfluous good (Phase 2). The results showed that the variation in the number of LEDs lit in the panel (changes in personal income) produced linear increases in consumption, consistent with the predictions of the Marginal Propensity to Consume. The main variables were the level of deprivation, the type of reinforcement and the number of subjects of each group. New experimental variables should be added to deepen the examination of this relationship between personal income and consumption

O mundo ainda está enfrentando uma crise financeira, que começou em meados de 2007 e até o momento está longe de ser resolvida. Os mercados de ações ao redor do mundo reagiram mal e as notícias em tempo real nunca desempenharam um papel tão importante para os investidores, como visto nesta crise. Em outras palavras, o impacto dos meios de comunicação aprofundou a dinâmica de baixa dos mercados financeiros, o que é amplificada pela volatilidade intrínseca do mesmo. Assim, a Neuroeconomia veio como um novo campo de questionamentos, o qual tem a finalidade de estudar a tomada de decisão, tendo em conta o papel desempenhado pela emoção e seus aspectos fisio-patológicos. Se utiliza neste estudo uma amostra de oitenta (80) pessoas, classificados em quarenta alunos de graduação e quarenta (40) trabalhadores experientes do mercado financeiro (traders), ambos igualmente divididos em 50% do sexo masculino e 50% do sexo feminino. O escopo é de avaliar o envolvimento de uma ampla rede de circuitos neurais envolvidos na avaliação de riscos, benefícios e conflitos (esta ponderação está intimamente relacionada à serotonina em caso de riscos e benefícios no caso de dopamina) para cada grupo a fim de verificar como reagem neste ambiente. Compreender a funcionalidade de tais sistemas é de fundamental importância para a compreensão da dinâmica do mercado financeiro e de suas anomalias, ou seja, para registrar a percepção de cada indivíduo em relação ao sentimento geral do mercado, seja ele a favor ou adverso. Portanto, o principal objetivo desta tese é mapear a atividade cerebral usando uma técnica desenvolvida por Rocha (2001, 2004 e 2010), operando uma simulação de negociação da Bolsa de Valores BMF&Bovespa, a fim de compreender melhor a neurodinâmica do processo de decisão no mercado de capitais / The world is still facing a financial crisis, which started in mid 2007 and up to now is far from being solved. Stock markets around the world reacted badly and the real time news has never played such an important role to investors as seen in previous crisis. In other words, the impact of the media deepened the bear dynamics of the markets, that is, it amplified the volatility of it. Thus, Neuroeconomics comes as a new field of inquiring that has the purpose of studying decision making taking into consideration the role played by emotion and its physio-pathological aspects. Here, it is used a sample of eighty (80) volunteers, sorted out into forty undergraduate students and forty (40) experienced financial market practioneers (namely traders), both equally divided into 50% male and 50% female. The scope is to evaluate the involvement of a wide network of neural circuits involved in risk assessments, benefits and conflicts (this weighting is closely related to the serotonin neural circuits in the event of risks and benefits in the case of dopamine) so as to verify how both groups react to this environment. Understanding the functionality of such systems is of fundamental importance for understanding the dynamics of the financial market and its anomalies, ie to record the perception of each individual in relation to the general market sentiment, being it in favour or on the contrary, adverse. Therefore, the main objective of this thesis is then to map brain activity using a technique developed by Rocha et al (2001, 2004 and 2010), operating a simulation of trading within the BMF&Bovespa, in order to better understand the process of neurodynamics decision making in the capital market

This dissertation is a study of non-standard economic behavior. The first chapter concerns two widely observed violations of Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives, the Compromise and Attraction effects. I construct a novel method of representing them by reducing the context of a menu to a frame, encompassing the worst option along each attribute in the menu, and observing a collection of preferences indexed by frames. The agent behaves as though a good’s attractiveness along each attribute is judged relative to the frame with declining marginal utility. This allows me to give a novel interpretation of the compromise and attraction effects: they are consistent with indifference curves rotating clockwise as the frame moves down, and counter- clockwise as it goes left. It also allows me to give a representation theorem showing the behavioral axioms associated with a utility representation taking a good and the frame as arguments. The second chapter applies the representation from Chapter One to electoral politics. It shows that incorporating these preferences generates equilibria where extremist candidates enter plurality elections in order to attractively frame their preferred moderate candidate, even if the extremists have probability zero of obtaining office themselves. While such candidates are frequently observed in elections, and there are papers generating equilibria with centrist sure losers (including Solow (2015)), this is the first paper generating equilibria with these extremist candidates without unusual assumptions on election rules, or non single-peaked preferences. This paper creates a four candidate equilibrium with two extremist sure loser candidates, each on the fringes of opinion. The third chapter concerns the effect of guilt on preferences in the circumstance of gift giving. A decision maker who experiences guilt may receive an increase in surplus from a gift card allowing guilt-free indulgence, potentially beyond even the surplus she’d receive from an equivalent cash gift. This paper isolates the behavior of guilt avoidance by exploiting a multi-period setting which incorporates a distinction between the decision maker’s preferences over what she’d receive, and what she would choose. A representation inspired by Kopylov (2009) is adapted to this setting, providing a representation theorem for these preferences.