{"title":"The effect of social distancing on trust and solidarity","authors":"Antonio Filippin , Noemi Pace","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102402","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102402","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper investigates the effect of social distancing on behavioral traits (trust, trustworthiness, and solidarity) that are important in interpersonal relationships. Toward this goal, we exploit the exogenous manipulation of social distancing provided by the different timing of stay-at-home orders issued in New York and Arizona during the COVID-19 outbreak. The experimental design also entails a between-subject manipulation in order to distinguish In-group vs. Out-group effects. The results show a positive In-group effect on trust, robust to the degree of compliance to the treatment, while we do not find evidence of significant effects on the other behavioral traits.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102402"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144654312","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Gonzalo Llamosas García , Cristina Mazas Pérez-Oleaga
{"title":"What works in financial education? Experimental evidence on program impact","authors":"Gonzalo Llamosas García , Cristina Mazas Pérez-Oleaga","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102401","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102401","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Financial education is increasingly essential for safeguarding both individual and corporate well-being. This study systematically reviews global financial education experiments using a dual-method framework that integrates a deep learning classifier with advanced multivariate statistical techniques. Our analysis indicates that while short-term improvements in financial literacy are common, such gains tend to diminish over time without ongoing reinforcement. Moreover, the limited impact of digital innovations and monetary incentives suggests that successful financial education depends on more than simply deploying technological solutions or extrinsic rewards. Overall, this review provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of financial education in a dynamic economic context and underscores the need for sustainable strategies that secure lasting improvements in financial literacy.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102401"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144654313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Buyer-side gender discrimination in bargaining: Evidence from seed sales in Uganda","authors":"Bjorn Van Campenhout , Leocardia Nabwire","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102404","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102404","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Haggling over prices is a common feature of economic transactions in many societies. This study examines whether the gender of the seller influences buyers’ negotiation strategies and outcomes in bilateral price bargaining. Using a bargaining experiment in eastern Uganda, we analyze interactions between smallholder maize farmers and either a male or female seed seller. Our findings reveal that buyers negotiating with female sellers are less likely to accept the initial offer price and respond with lower counter-bids compared to those bargaining with male sellers. Negotiations also last, on average, one round longer when the seller is a woman, and final transaction prices are nearly 9 percent lower. These results are particularly relevant for rural economies, where restrictive gender norms limit women’s financial autonomy. Given that small agribusinesses often provide one of the few viable income-generating opportunities for women, gender biases in market interactions can have substantial implications for economic empowerment and household welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102404"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144654310","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Self-censorship in the classroom","authors":"Sarah Greenberg , Daniel F. Stone","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102393","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102393","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We present results from an extensive study (14 classes, 407 students) of the degree to which college students self-censor broad political views in classroom settings. We estimate the prevalence of self-censorship by comparing private and public reporting of views. We also study the accuracy of student beliefs about classmate self-censorship by eliciting beliefs about classmates’ private views. We find that students were approximately equally likely to report being socially liberal, economically liberal, and leaning Democratic in private and public settings. However, of students who privately reported being socially conservative, Republican, and economically conservative outside of economics classes, 38%, 45%, and 30% (respectively) did not reveal this publicly. Students in introductory classes were more likely to self-censor. The order of responses options was randomized and had a large effect on the degree of self-censorship of Republicanism. Student beliefs about the distributions of classmates’ political views were mostly accurate but there was substantial underestimation of the percentages of economic conservatives and non-partisans. Results from a follow-up survey suggest that social consequences for students who publicly stated that they were conservative were limited, but not non-existent.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102393"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144611850","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Time pressure and motivated delay effects on sanctioning in a social dilemma: Experimental evidence","authors":"Todd Guilfoos , Jordan F. Suter","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102403","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102403","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We examine intuitive and deliberative cognitive processes on collective action through sanctioning in a social dilemma using two experiments with cognitive manipulations. The first experiment applies time pressure during the voting stage for sanctions to prompt quick and intuitive thought processes to the decision. The second experiment applies a motivated delay treatment to enact deliberative cognitive processes to the voting stage. We find that time pressure and motivated delay do not effect voting for cooperative rules.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102403"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144632413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jana Eßer , Daniela Flörchinger , Manuel Frondel , Stephan Sommer
{"title":"Avoiding cognitive inconsistency: Experimental evidence on sustainable online shopping","authors":"Jana Eßer , Daniela Flörchinger , Manuel Frondel , Stephan Sommer","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102387","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102387","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Cognitive inconsistency, the discrepancy between individuals’ behavior and their self-image, can cause the psychological discomfort called cognitive dissonance. Drawing on the results of a large-scale online survey experiment conducted in Germany in 2021, this paper investigates whether cognitive dissonance is reduced through self-deception and behavior change. After their attitudes toward sustainable production were elicited, participants could opt for a voucher from either a conventional or a sustainable online marketplace in an incentivized discrete-choice task. The task was combined with an experimental setting in which the salience of cognitive inconsistency was increased by either randomly reminding participants of their previously stated attitudes toward sustainable production or by providing information about the negative aspects of conventional online shopping. While we do not find evidence for self-deception, respondents adapt their behavior to their attitudes when their cognitive inconsistency is more salient.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102387"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144654311","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Future time perspective and job satisfaction in financial planning for retirement","authors":"Fernando Coral Polanco","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102415","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102415","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The analysis of the role that job satisfaction (JS) can play in a psychological model of financial planning for retirement (FPR) is an original contribution of this research. The study focuses on a sample of the Spanish population, necessitating an appropriate measure of FPR. The findings provide robust evidence that psychological factors—such as Future Time Perspective (FTP), operationalized through the Consideration of Future Consequences construct in this study—are the primary drivers of FPR. The influence of psychological factors is further strengthened by their role as mediators between sociodemographic variables and FPR. Moreover, JS exerts a negative but moderate influence on FPR, providing opportunities for public policy interventions. The stability of these relationships was assessed using multi-group structural equation modeling, revealing significant differences across age groups, which stimulate further research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102415"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144587825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effects of zero price and reciprocity on online consumer reviews","authors":"Xian. Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102416","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102416","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Online consumer reviews are important for businesses because they potentially influence product sales and profits. This study examines the zero price effect on online consumer reviews and reciprocity as the mechanism through which such an effect operates. By conducting a lab experiment, I observed review behaviour of subjects who received coffee for free or for 1 cent and measured their degree of reciprocity using a Trust Game. Although zero pricing did not significantly change review participation, ratings and emotions, subjects under the zero price treatment wrote longer reviews, therein possibly expressing their greater appreciation. No significant differences in review behaviour were found between high and low reciprocal subjects. Model estimations further show that the zero price effect is significantly negative on the rating of overall performance for those with low reciprocity, but higher reciprocity can mitigate this effect.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"119 ","pages":"Article 102416"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144580435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Maurizio Caserta, Rosaria Distefano, Livio Ferrante, Francesco Reito
{"title":"Challenging the free-rider: Children behavior in a public goods game","authors":"Maurizio Caserta, Rosaria Distefano, Livio Ferrante, Francesco Reito","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102400","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102400","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper presents the results of an educational program designed to promote prosocial attitudes among 11-year-old children in Southern Italy. The experiment investigates whether education on socially beneficial behavior can increase voluntary contributions in a standard public goods game and reduce free riding. The program consists of five interactive lectures delivered by young economics students on sustainable consumption, social responsibility, and environmental awareness. Results suggest that participation in the program significantly increases both the probability of contributing and the size of contributions. Interestingly, the transmission of prosocial behavior appears to have a stronger impact among students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 102400"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144549488","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Replication code as a cornerstone of the credibility revolution 2.0","authors":"Jan Marcus","doi":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102410","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.socec.2025.102410","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This opinion piece argues that code sharing is a key yet underutilized component of research transparency and the ongoing “Credibility Revolution 2.0.” It outlines the benefits of providing replication code for both individual researchers and the broader scientific community, and explains why alternative methods of documenting the details of the research process fall short. The opinion piece concludes with concrete recommendations for how different groups in the scientific community can help make code sharing the norm in empirical research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":51637,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics","volume":"117 ","pages":"Article 102410"},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2025-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144523751","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}