{"title":"Economic crimes and trust toward political institutions: evidence from online fraud victimization and related policy interventions in Italy","authors":"Flaviana Palmisano","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102857","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102857","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In the last decades, increasing attention has been devoted, both in the academic and political arena, to understand the determinants of distrust in political institutions and to identify actions that can be put into place to restore this peculiar form of social capital. Using data from a representative survey of the Italian population over the 2013–2021 period, this paper focuses on the role exerted by a specific form of economic crime – namely online fraud – to weaken political trust. The findings indicate a strong and statistically significant negative association between victimization by online fraud and trust in various political institutions. This relationship remains robust across multiple checks, including <span><span>Oster (2019)</span></span> sensitivity test for unobserved confounding factors. The analysis further suggests that policy interventions aimed at reducing the risk of online fraud may also serve, instrumentally, to rebuild confidence in political institutions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 102857"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145416534","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fernando G. Cafferata , Patricio Dominguez , Carlos Scartascini
{"title":"Overconfidence and preferences for gun use: Evidence from six countries in the Americas","authors":"Fernando G. Cafferata , Patricio Dominguez , Carlos Scartascini","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102833","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102833","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Overconfidence leads to risky behavior, including when people are around guns. Can overconfidence also be associated with attitudes about gun ownership and use? We evaluate this possibility by conducting nationally representative surveys in six countries in the Americas, including the United States. Results show that overconfident individuals are more willing to accept the use of guns and more likely to declare their willingness to use guns. These results indicate that overconfidence is a significant behavioral trait correlated with attitudes toward weapons handling, carrying, and use. Efforts to correct the biases of individuals confronted with making decisions about guns should be considered, especially in regulatory contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"111 ","pages":"Article 102833"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145050304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maria Porter , Ahmed Salim Nuhu , Eduardo Nakasone , Mywish K. Maredia
{"title":"Trust, risk, and institutions: experimental evidence from a community of firms in Kenya","authors":"Maria Porter , Ahmed Salim Nuhu , Eduardo Nakasone , Mywish K. Maredia","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102834","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102834","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We study whether personal relationships amongst firms can foster trust as a mechanism to overcome challenging business environments. In partnership with a community of small- and medium-scale enterprises in Kenya, we implemented trust games in a framed field experiment. Our main finding is that outside enforcement of exchanges most effectively increases amounts sent to recipients. A secondary finding is that active members of the business association may be more trusting of fellow members when identities are to be revealed compared to when decisions remain anonymous. Our findings suggest that while association-based networking can perhaps partially offset an adverse business environment, in trust-related decision-making, such informal mechanisms do not fully compensate for lack of outside enforcement that can result from weak institutions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102834"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144809604","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Christoffer Bruns , Martin Fochmann , Peter N.C. Mohr , Benno Torgler
{"title":"Multidimensional tax compliance attitude","authors":"Christoffer Bruns , Martin Fochmann , Peter N.C. Mohr , Benno Torgler","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102848","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102848","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper theorizes that individuals’ tax compliance attitudes are characterized not only by interpersonal heterogeneity but also by intrapersonal heterogeneity. Utilizing three online surveys, we develop a multidimensional taxpayer typology based on factor and cluster analysis. Our findings underscore that taxpayers can be classified into two categories: (a) moralists and (b) rationalists. Notably, rationalists consistently exhibit lower tax compliance levels than their moralist counterparts. We introduce a questionnaire labeled the Tax Compliance Attitude Inventory (TCAI) alongside a classification algorithm. These tools enable users to categorize individuals in any dataset, applying the TCAI, as moralists and rationalists. The heterogeneity in taxpayer attitudes can primarily be attributed to differences in four key factors: (i) morale, (ii) monetary benefit, (iii) deterrence, and (iv) authority. Lastly, to demonstrate the practical application of our findings, we present an online experiment that tests our results using incentivized and out-of-sample data. Overall, this work provides an instrument for assessing taxpayer attitudes, predicting individuals’ tax compliance intentions, and personalizing behavioral interventions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102848"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145003574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fang Fu , Leigh H. Grant , Ali Hortaçsu , Boaz Keysar , Jidong Yang , Karen J. Ye
{"title":"The impact of language on decision-making: Auction winners are less cursed in a foreign language","authors":"Fang Fu , Leigh H. Grant , Ali Hortaçsu , Boaz Keysar , Jidong Yang , Karen J. Ye","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102845","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102845","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As foreign language use becomes more commonplace in the globalized market, we ask whether using a foreign language systematically impacts financial decisions. We conducted a lab experiment in Beijing, China, with 357 native Mandarin Chinese speakers who know English as a foreign language. We ran a series of sealed-bid, common value auctions, where winning bidders often pay more than the object is worth and hence suffer from the “winner’s curse.” Here we show that using a foreign language reduces the winner’s curse, as winning bidders were less likely to overbid for the object. When using a native tongue, bidders adopted a naïve strategy, while with a foreign language they got closer to the Nash equilibrium bid. However, as bidders received feedback on others’ bidding behavior across consecutive auctions, bidding across the language treatments converged to the naïve bid. These results suggest that the language through which individuals make bidding decisions can have influential effects on financial decision making in market settings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"110 ","pages":"Article 102845"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144988763","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Corrigendum to “Shaping societal norms: Experimental evidence on the normative impact of free speech law” [J. Econ. Psychol. 107 (2025) 102799]","authors":"Daniel L. Chen","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102827","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102827","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 102827"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144829715","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Temperatures and trust: Survey evidence on the role of climate in shaping trust in people and institutions","authors":"Karin Hansson , Alexander Popov","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102831","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102831","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Using survey data from 22,964 individuals across 298 regions in 27 countries in Europe and Central Asia, we show that within a country, individuals who experienced lower temperatures when growing up exhibit lower trust in people. Such individuals also have reduced level of trust for domestic political and non-political institutions like the president, parliament, national and local governments, political parties, courts, banks, and the church. Our evidence is less consistent with economic theories that suggest that harsh climatic conditions promote trust via the need to cooperate with strangers. Instead, it aligns more closely with neuroscientific and social psychology theories which posit that physical warmth promotes interpersonal trust and a sense of belonging.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 102831"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144723509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Tax aversion as an implicit phenomenon","authors":"Giulia Sesini, Cinzia Castiglioni, Paola Iannello, Edoardo Lozza","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102828","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102828","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The term “tax aversion” refers to a dislike of taxes which is stronger than the reaction to other types of payments. Although many scholars have found that the word “tax” elicits negative feelings, contrasting findings have been obtained when tax aversion has been measured as an explicit tendency. The present study suggests a complementary perspective on tax aversion, suggesting that tax aversion might operate as both a latent phenomenon and an explicit propensity. We propose that tax aversion may stem from an inner predisposition rather than an explicit and rational attitude. Such intuition drove the present research, aimed at measuring tax aversion at an implicit level and examining the relationship between implicit, explicit, and behavioral measures of tax aversion. Across three studies, we employed the Implicit Association Test (IAT) alongside traditional measures to explore implicit tax aversion and its behavioral implications. The novelty of this research lies in the use of the IAT to measure implicit tax aversion, examining its relationship with explicit measures, such as the TAX-I (<span><span>Kirchler & Wahl, 2010</span></span>), as well as with the behavioral outcomes of tax aversion based on the study conducted by <span><span>Sussman and Olivola (2011)</span></span>. Consistent with our hypothesis, the findings support the idea that tax aversion can operate as a latent phenomenon. Furthermore, the implicit hostility measured through the IAT appears to be linked to the behavioral outcomes of tax aversion; contrarily, no relationship was found with explicit tax-related attitudes.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 102828"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144654390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jaume García-Segarra , Iñigo Hernandez-Arenaz , Pedro Rey-Biel
{"title":"Economic consequences of gender differences in behavior","authors":"Jaume García-Segarra , Iñigo Hernandez-Arenaz , Pedro Rey-Biel","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102818","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.joep.2025.102818","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper serves as the opening for the Virtual Special Issue on the economic consequences of gender differences in behavior, published in the Journal of Economic Psychology. The issue aims to consolidate recent research exploring how gender differences in behavior, reflected in risk attitudes, competitiveness, and negotiation tendencies, impact economic outcomes and, in particular, may partially explain labor market differences across genders regarding occupational segregation, wage gaps, and disparities in career advancement. We provide an overview of the topic, highlighting the importance of understanding gender-specific economic behaviors and setting the stage for the detailed studies, and follow by introducing the articles included in the special issue, which use mainly experimental and empirical insights.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"109 ","pages":"Article 102818"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5,"publicationDate":"2025-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144068330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}