Preference is an important element in economic analysis, but usually regarded an inborn and exogenous characteristic. By the concept of natural selection, evolutionary game theory can explain lots of animal characteristics, including humans. With this idea, this paper extends the classical Hawk-Dove game to a two-period-life model, in which fights can cause deaths. We derive the population dynamics and the evolutiona-rily stable strategy. The competitive attitude and patience are determined by resource value and cost. And under a given common patience level, the evolutionarily stable strategy is a mixed strategy. But if the ¡§announcement effect,¡¨ an extra benefit from showing the winning record, is large enough, all-hawk may be the equilibrium. In ad-dition, under variable patient levels, the model can determine the equilibrium patience, and numerical simulation shows that dove-strategy accompanies a higher patient level than hawk.

<p>The first of the two essays in this dissertation uses primary data from Bangladesh to explore the role of microloan repayment frequency (weekly vs. bi-weekly, assigned randomly) on loan repayment performance of microfinance borrowers after controlling for their inherently distinct time preferences. The findings show that the borrowers’ individual time preference is an important determinant of their repayment behavior. Specifically, the repayment performance of present-biased borrowers improves significantly when they happen to be assigned to the weekly repayment schedule instead of the bi-weekly schedule. Also, irrespective of time preference, borrowers are found to invest more in new businesses under a more flexible (i.e., bi-weekly) repayment schedule. Overall, our findings suggest that instead of a "one size fits all" approach, by offering loans with a weekly (bi-weekly) repayment schedule matched to the present-biased (time-consistent) borrowers, the MFIs might be able to minimize their transaction costs while ensuring high repayment rates. This would also benefit the borrowers by enabling them to venture into new business investments. </p> Using primary data from Bangladesh, the second essay seeks to examine two aspects of religiosity that might affect the microfinance borrowers’ repayment performance. First, whether individual religiosity influences repayment behavior. Second, whether the impact of religiosity changes with borrowers’ age, and level of community religiosity. The results show religiosity to be a significant determinant of a borrower’s repayment behavior, as individuals with higher religiosity are found to be better borrowers. Also, the positive impact of religiosity is stronger for older borrowers, and for borrowers who live in comparatively less religious community. These findings indicate that MFIs can take into consideration the degree of individual and community religiosity to decide on the intensity of supervision required for borrowers. Borrowers with higher level of religiosity can possibly go on with minimal level of supervision as they are less likely to default. This reduced supervision would reduce travel costs incurred by MFI staff, making operations more cost-effective. This will also help free up loan officers’ and borrowers’ time. Thus, MFIs and borrowers can take advantage of this and invest time to other productive activities. The MFIs can also make better use of the freed-up staff to increase coverage.

No description available.

This thesis deals with the differences in time preferences, individual discount rates, among non-Romany (Czechs) and Romany ethnic group in the Czech Republic. Subjects of almost homogenous ethnic groups -- low income, low education, currently unemployed -- were subjected to experiments based on an in-depth questionnaire (Romany N = 35, N = 25 non-Romany). In addition to time preferences, their relationship with the socio-economic and demographic characteristics was inspected. The sub-tests showed a difference across ethnic groups in regard to the discounting models. Romany ethnic group is better characterized by an inconsistent model compared to the non-Romany using an more consistent model. Participants from both groups, however, appear to be very impatient, with discount rates closer to the values of individuals dependent on addictive substances. Probably because of insufficient sample size, no statistically significant correlation was found between the discount rates and socio-economic and demographic factors. Financial (il)literacy among Romany proved to be an important factor affecting the formation of savings. Finally, the recorded signal effect of expenditures on signal goods among the Romany ethnic group is briefly analyzed.

Bibliographic citation Kahounová, Jana (2012). Czech Pension Reform through the Lens of Behavioral Economics. Prague, 2012. 79 p. Master Thesis (Mgr.) Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies. Master thesis supervisor PhDr. Michal Bauer, PhD. Abstract The field of behavioral economics can provide original insights into many areas of economic decision-making. In my thesis I use the point of view of behavioral economics to assess the current Czech pension reform plan. I study time discounting as the main determinant of saving behavior and deal with its relationship to the Czech pension reform architecture. The three fundamental features of the Czech pension reform plan that are examined are entry into the private funded scheme that is to be introduced by the Czech pension reform plan, the contribution rate into the private funded scheme and access to deposits in the private funded scheme. In order to obtain data for my research I conducted own survey. The results of statistical analysis confirmed the hypotheses of behavioral economics that people exhibit heterogeneous time discounting which influences their saving behavior and these characteristics can also determine their preference for the pension reform features. It implies a possibility for policy-makers to...