Browsing Harvard Kennedy School by Keyword "Individual Decisions"

Now showing items 1-13 of 13

    • The Behavior of Savings and Asset Prices When Preferences and Beliefs are Heterogeneous 

      Tran, Ngoc-Khanh; Zeckhauser, Richard Jay (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2011)
      Movements in asset prices are a major risk confronting individuals. This paper establishes new asset pricing results when agents differ in risk preference, time preference and/or expectations. It shows that risk tolerance ...

    • The CAPS Prediction System and Stock Market Returns 

      Avery, Christopher N.; Zeckhauser, Richard Jay (2009)
      We analyze the informational content of more than 1.2 million stock picks provided by more than 60,000 individuals from November 1, 2006 to October 31, 2007 on the CAPS open access website created by the Motley Fool company ...

    • Consumer Learning and Hybrid Vehicle Adoption 

      Heutel, Garth; Muehlegger, Erich J. (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2010)
      We study the diffusion of hybrid vehicles among consumers. Using data on sales of 11 different models over seven years, we identify the effect of the penetration rate – total cumulative hybrid sales per capita – on new ...

    • Consumer Response to Cigarette Excise Tax Changes 

      Chiou, Lesley; Muehlegger, Erich J. (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2010)
      We use a rich dataset of weekly cigarette sales to examine how consumers adapt their behavior before and after excise tax increases - whether by reducing demand, stockpiling, traveling to low-tax jurisdictions, or substituting ...

    • Disgust Promotes Disposal: Souring the Status Quo 

      Han, Seunghee; Lerner, Jennifer S.; Zeckhauser, Richard Jay (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard Uinversiy, 2010)
      Humans naturally dispose of objects that disgust them. Is this phenomenon so deeply embedded that even incidental disgust – i.e., where the source of disgust is unrelated to a possessed object – triggers disposal? Two ...

    • Dopamine and Risk Choices in Different Domains: Findings Among Series Tournament Bridge Players 

      Zeckhauser, Richard Jay; Rand, David Gertler; Wernerfelt, Nils Christian; Garcia, Justin; Lum, Koji; Dreber-Almenberg, Anna (2010)
      Individuals differ significantly in their willingness to take risks, partly due to genetic differences. We explore how risk taking behavior correlates with different versions of the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4). We ...

    • The Dopamine Receptor D4 Gene (DRD4) and Self-Reported Risk Taking in the Economic Domain 

      Dreber, Anna; Rand, David Gertler; Wernerfelt, Nils Christian; Garcia, Justin; Lum, J. Koji; Zeckhauser, Richard Jay (John F. Kennedy School for Government, Harvard University, 2011)
      Background: Recent evidence suggests that individual variation in risk taking is partly due to genetic factors. Methodology/Principal Findings: We explore how self-reported risk taking in different domains correlates with ...

    • Gasoline Taxes and Consumer Behavior 

      Li, Shanjun; Linn, joshua; Muehlegger, Erich J. (John F. Kennedy School of Government, 2012)
      Gasoline taxes can be employed to correct externalities associated with automobile use, to reduce dependency on foreign oil, and to raise government revenue. Our understanding of the optimal gasoline tax and the efficacy ...

    • Measuring the Efficacy of Leaders to Assess Information and Make Decisions in a Crisis: The C-LEAD Scale. 

      Hadley, Connie N.; Pittinsky, Todd L.; Sommer, S. Amy; Zhu, Weichun (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2009)
      Based on literature and expert interviews, we developed the Crisis Leader Efficacy in Assessing and Deciding scale (C-LEAD) to capture the efficacy of leaders to assess information and make decisions in a public health and ...

    • Motivating Voter Turnout by Invoking the Self 

      Rogers, Todd T (National Academy of Sciences, 2011)
      Three randomized experiments found that subtle linguistic cues have the power to increase voting and related behavior. The phrasing of survey items was varied to frame voting either as the enactment of a personal identity ...

    • The Online Laboratory: Conducting Experiments in a Real Labor Market 

      Horton, John Joseph; Rand, David Gertler; Zeckhauser, Richard Jay (John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 2010)
      Online labor markets have great potential as platforms for conducting experiments, as they provide immediate access to a large and diverse subject pool and allow researchers to conduct randomized controlled trials. We argue ...

    • Using Implementation Intentions Prompts to Enhance Influenza Vaccination Rates 

      Milkman, Katherine L.; Beshears, John Leonard; Choi, James J.; Laibson, David I.; Madrian, Brigitte (National Academy of Sciences, 2011)
      We evaluate the results of a field experiment designed to measure the effect of prompts to form implementation intentions on realized behavioral outcomes. The outcome of interest is influenza vaccination receipt at free ...

    • When Performance Trumps Gender Bias: Joint Versus Separate Evaluation 

      Bohnet, Iris; Van Geen, Alexandra Vivien; Bazerman, Max H. (INFORMS, 2012)
      We examine a new intervention to overcome gender biases in hiring, promotion, and job assignments: an “evaluation nudge,” in which people are evaluated jointly rather than separately regarding their future performance. ...