Real Choice Research Articles

Сходство до степени смешения: социологический анализ влияния фактора цены

The study is focused on assessing the extent to which the appearance of similarity to the extent of confusion between trademarks in the minds of consumers influenced by the price of products marked with these designations. The article presents the results of a sociological experiment that has a dual purpose, which is to offer a methodology for this type of research and to provide an empirical basis for making managerial decisions considering Russian specifics. The hypothesis of the study is that products of different price categories are characterized by different levels of trademarks confusion that can be explained, for instance, by greater attention of consumers when choosing a product from a high price category. The results of the experiment suggest that the hypothesis was not confirmed, and this is expressed in the absence of a significant influence of the price factor on the level of trademarks confusion. The practical significance of the data obtained for resolving commercial disputes is to overcome the commonly used assumption about the influence of price on trademarks confusion. Moreover, the limitations in interpreting the results are associated with the situational character of the price factor. In this study, the price is understood considering the segment of trademarks origin, and in the case of real consumer choice the price factor may have some significance that may become the subject of subsequent research in this area.

The effectiveness of decarbonizing the passenger transport sector through monetary incentives

Abstract Passenger cars account for most road transportation emissions, and almost half of overall transport sector emissions in the EU. Countries in Europe have established policies to achieve emissions reductions in the transport sector by incentivizing the acquisition of fuel-efficient vehicles. In this paper, we perform a pair-wise comparison of common passenger vehicles sold in 2017, which implements newer data and more realistic assumptions than an earlier study. The pair-wise study compares an electric vehicle (EV) against a similar combustion vehicle to simulate a real market choice for consumers—a method commonly used to elicit preferences—and shows that fiscal incentives are effective at increasing EV acquisition. Acquiring EVs over conventional vehicles alone contributes to about a 60% reduction per kilometer of well-to-wheel emissions, based on average emissions of new EU vehicle fleets in 2017. A second mechanism at reducing emissions in the transport sector is through incentivizing consumer charging behavior to use less carbon intense electricity. The electricity used to charge EVs is variable throughout a day; therefore, we propose a dynamic pricing mechanism dependent on the carbon intensity of the electricity grid. We do this analysis through a case study for Portugal using the entire country’s public charging demands from 2017. The responsiveness of the users to the variable price is reflected by the market price elasticity of demand, and the resulting reduction in demand from the surcharge is approximated. Our study finds that a surcharging mechanism based on the carbon intensity of the electric grid can yield an emissions reduction of 20 tonnes per year while still achieving profits.

Majoritarian Bargaining over Budgetary Divisions and Policy

We report the results of a field-in-the-lab experiment in which subjects bargain over a two-dimensional agenda: a donation to a political interest group and the division of a sum of money. We show that subjects sacrifice monetary gains to secure preferred policies and that behaviorally elicited preference intensity correlates with bargaining behavior. We find an ideological majority advantage and a status quo premium. Minorities benefit most from negotiating on two dimensions because the budgetary division problem allows compromise. Finally, we show that induced preferences over artificial policies fail to capture the bargaining dynamics that arise when real ideological choices are involved.

Best seller!? Unintended negative consequences of popularity signs on consumer choice behavior

Popularity signs (e.g., “best seller”, “top rated”) are frequently employed by marketers to help consumers in their purchase decisions. Whereas extant research focused mostly on the positive aspects of such a strategy, we demonstrate that it can also have adverse effects on consumer post-choice behavior. Depending on consumer regulatory orientation, such popularity signs can make the decision task more complex and increase feelings of uncertainty. The results of seven studies, including real choice decisions and field data, show that the provision of popularity signs can have negative consequences on consumers with a prevention (vs. promotion) focus by increasing the heterogeneity of their consideration set, which in turn is associated with an increase in choice uncertainty and a decrease in choice commitment. Beyond their theoretical significance, our findings shed novel light on the ways to implement popularity signs for a more efficiently targeted marketing effort.

Personal and Psychological Traits Influencing the Willingness to Pay for Food with Nutritional Claims: A Comparison between Vice and Virtue Food Products

Several studies have demonstrated the usefulness of nutritional claims (NCs) to help consumers make more informed food decisions. However, fewer studies have investigated the effect of personal and psychological consumer characteristics on their food purchase decision. Hence, the main aim of this study is to examine the impact of body image, emotional eating style, anxiety traits, and body mass index on consumer preferences for multiple NCs on the front of the package (FOP) of hedonic (potato chips) and utilitarian (toasted bread) products carrying the same NCs. Therefore, a real choice experiment (RCE) has been used and the willingness-to-pay-space model was estimated to analyse the interaction between personal and psychological characteristics and consumer preferences. The main finding suggests differences in purchase behaviour between potato chips and toasted bread. In particular, consumers are willing to pay more for toasted bread with one NC than potato chips with one NC. Moreover, personal and psychological consumer characteristics influence the purchase behaviour regarding food products with nutritional claims. However, only the anxiety trait appears to explain the differences between the selection of both types of food products. In line with this new evidence, we proposed some behavioural, political, and managerial implications.

Run for the hills: Italian investors' risk appetite before and during the financial crisis

PurposeThis paper sets out to corroborate the existing literature on investors' risk tolerance and to assess how the 2008 financial crisis has affected risk tolerance among Italian investors.Design/methodology/approachBased on a unique dataset of real-world portfolio choices made by 1,245 Italian investors over a period of 15 years (from 2003 to 2017), this paper presents two steps of analysis. In step 1, the whole period 2003–2017 is considered with the aim to integrate and corroborate the existing literature on the topic of risk tolerance, considering a complete economic and financial cycle. Step 2 took 2008 as the pivotal point between pre-crisis (2003–2008) and crisis (2009–2017) with the aim to observe the influence on risk appetite of the economic and financial effects of the crisis.FindingsThe results obtained confirm that men are more risk tolerant than women and older people are less risk-taking than their younger counterparts, although the relationship between age and risk tolerance is not necessarily linear. Moreover, our paper demonstrates that a crisis scenario has an influence on Italian investors' risk tolerance.Practical implicationsOur results are of interest to financial advisors, financial planners, asset managers, psychologists, behavioral researchers and more in general to providers of financial products and services.Originality/valueThe results presented in this paper are relevant and original because they are based on real investors who made real choices concerning their portfolio asset allocations.

Escaping the Network

AbstractWe are today agents of a peculiar reality, the global network or the system for automated information production. Our condition in the global network is that of agents of the real, since we all contribute to the coproduction of this ever-evolving process. Nevertheless, I will argue, this reality is but the effect of the adoption of a notion of instrumental pragmatic rationality which denies the existence of any other possible reality as the actualization of different determinations of Reason. While following Deleuze s notion of deterritorialization, I ll show that the real philosophical choice does not concern the introduction of new moves that create differentiations within a universal game, but that it is concerned with the possible abolition of the agency which is instantiated within the collective network.

Effects of environmental exposure on the mechanical properties of composite tidal current turbine

In order to meet the growing demand for energy and also to fight against global warming, Renewable Marine Energies (RME) appeared as a great opportunity for a real ecological and industrial choice. Tidal current turbines are used to extract this energy and installed on the seabed at locations where the nozzle can be prone to the accidental impact and critical loads. The principal objective of this research is to investigate the effects of environmental exposure on the mechanical properties of composite tidal current turbine, the most advanced features currently available in finite element (FE) Abaqus/Explicit have been employed to simulate the behavior of the composite nozzle under static and dynamic loading conditions. To investigate this situation, a parametric analysis is conducted which deals with the effect of velocity and geometry of the impactor. The mechanical behavior has been analyzed as both kinematic effect due to deflection of the composite structure and dynamic effect caused by the interaction between the impactor and the hydrodynamic and hydrostatic pressures over the loading. The stress and the deformation distribution are presented. On the other hand, damage modeling was formulated based on Hashin criteria for intra-laminar damage. This has been accomplished by forming a user-created routine (VUMAT) and executing it in the Abaqus software.

To shine or not to shine? – The relationship between environmental knowledge of preteens and their choice among plastic and non-plastic materials for a manual task

Since education aims to offer applicable knowledge, studying knowledge–behavior relationship is of key importance in promoting environmental education. But there is scarcity of studies addressing the relationship between knowledge and real behavior choices. We examined the connection between environmental knowledge and behavior (self-reported and measured in an operative way) among 10-12-year-old students, with special focus on the potential mediating role of attitudes. The main research question was whether knowledge (measured with an achievement test) correlates with actual environmental behavior, and how mental accessibility of environmentalism is related to the relationship between knowledge and actual behavior (i.e. choosing a material for completing a manual task). The study with 325 persons revealed that although the positive connection between knowledge and self-reported behavior was fully mediated by environmental attitudes, knowledge was just slightly related to actual behavior, even when the topic of environmentalism appeared before the behavior choice. However, behavior was related to school, suggesting that school-level socialization (beyond the knowledge transfer) is highly influential in forming environmental behavior. The difficulties of studying actual behavior and implications of our findings for practitioners from the field of environmental education are discussed.

The representation of freedom in decisions: Good outcomes or real choice?

ABSTRACTFive studies replicate and extend recent experimental findings on a divergence between theoretical and subjectively-experienced decision freedom. While conditions like conflict, uncertainty, or complexity are structural indicators of free choice, they empirically decrease experienced freedom. Subjective freedom itself seems to depend on easy decisions with positive outcomes of a high certainty. Studies 1 and 2 conceptually replicate this strong focus of subjective freedom on positive valence by using semantic and qualitative data. The replication proved successful. Given this prevalence of positivity, Studies 3, 4, and 5 proceed to test the hypothesis that people do not recognize features of free choice beyond their positive feeling. This hypothesis was disconfirmed: although participants experienced decision conflicts as uncertain and less free, they judged higher conflict as less determined, more open, unpredictable, and more contingent on the personality of the decider. We discuss resulting hypotheses and a necessary differentiation in the representation of freedom.

Testing hypothetical bias in a framed field experiment

AbstractHypothetical bias is tested based on inter‐ and intra‐respondent comparisons of choice behavior, applying a hypothetical and real choice experiment. The inter‐respondent comparison commonly applied in the environmental and agricultural economics literature consists of a control group of buyers who are asked to hypothetically choose between conventional and organic beans and an experimental group of buyers who are endowed to purchase the same beans using an identical experimental design. Hypothetical bias is tested by comparing inter‐ and intra‐respondents’ (i) hypothetical and real choices, (ii) preference parameters of the estimated choice models related to hypothetical and real choices, and (iii) hypothetical and real willingness to pay (WTP). Choices in the experimental group are highly consistent when switching from hypothetical to real choices for this study's homegrown goods. However, after being endowed, the price sensitivity of lower income households drops, suggesting a house money effect. WTP derived from actual purchases is higher than WTP based on hypothetical choices, indicating a negative hypothetical bias, but differences are only significant in the case of the inter‐respondent comparison. Actual prices paid by respondents in the field experiment appear to be considerably lower than the estimated WTP values and yield a mixed picture of hypothetical bias.

The Determinants of the Choice of Preferred Providers among the Publicly Insured in Chile: an Empirical Analysis

This paper analyses the determinants of the choice of provider among the publicly insured in Chile. The focus is on the Preferred Provider System (PPS) where public insured can opt for a more consumer-oriented environment subject to a higher level of copayments. Using a model of expected utility gain we develop a logit analysis based on a large multipurpose survey, the Encuesta de Caracterización Socioeconómica Nacional, CASEN 1992 (National Survey for Socioeconomic Characterisation). We make use of several socio-economic, demographic and access variables in our econometric estimation. As a whole, our results adjust to the hypotheses formulated. Among others, individuals’ income, the relative value of copayments, waiting time and zone of residence emerge as the most relevant determinants in the decision process. The positive effect of income would indicate some degree of segmentation within the public system, while the impact of the relative value of copayments shows that user charges can act as an important deterrent for some individuals. The unexpected negative effect of waiting time, included in our estimation as a provider’s attribute, would suggest certain level of captivity in the sense that some individuals have no real choices but purely public provision. The result for zone of residence indicates that rural residents are less likely to choose preferred providers than urban residents. This result is explained by the spatial distribution of preferred providers who tend to cluster in urban areas.

Feeling or following? A field‐experiment comparing social norms‐based and emotions‐based motives encouraging pro‐environmental donations

AbstractIn this study, we design and explore interventions encouraging pro‐environmental donations by testing social norms and anticipated positive emotions. The social norms‐based intervention included descriptive and injunctive social normative information while the emotions‐based intervention included information about anticipated positive emotions. The two intervention techniques were tested in a field‐experiment; applying social norms‐based or emotions‐based messages to a real choice situation between retaining versus donating one's own money (i.e., using recycling machines giving people the choice to either retain money obtained from their recycled bottles, or to donate their money to a pro‐environmental organization). Results showed that more people donated their money after being exposed to the emotions‐based message, than the social norms‐based message or no message.

Consumers (Dis)Preference for Bitterness in Extra Virgin Olive Oil: A Field Experiment

Globally, bitterness in food is not a preferred attribute by consumers, for several reasons. In the case of Extra Virgin Olive Oil its presence is fundamental as it is a healthiness indicator, being strictly linked to the antioxidant content. The current study aimed to assess the extent of Italian consumers’ preferences for bitterness taste of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Real choices made by shoppers at the store shelf of a hypermarket were recorded and then compared with the selected Extra Virgin Olive Oil sensory profiles evaluated by a professional panel. Findings reveal that bitterness exerts a negative willingness to pay equal to -1.18 €/liter. Furthermore, consumers tend to overestimate the perception of Extra Virgin Olive Oil bitterness compared to sensory experts. Results provide new evidences of consumer preferences for sweet sensory profile of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and bitter aversion.

Are Low-Income Consumers Willing to Pay for Fortification of a Commercially Produced Yogurt in Bangladesh.

There is an active debate over the potential for market-based strategies to address micronutrient deficiencies in low- and middle-income countries. However, there are questions over the viability of market-based strategies, reflecting limited evidence on the value that low-income households attach to the nutritional attributes of processed foods. The objective of this article is to investigate the willingness to pay of primary food purchasers in low-income households in rural Bangladesh for Shokti+, a nutritionally fortified yogurt produced and distributed by Grameen Danone Foods Limited. A real choice experiment with economic incentives was conducted with 1000 rural food purchasers sampled from the distribution area of Shokti+ in rural Bangladesh. The choices of respondents revealed attribute nonattendance, favoring the fortification attribute over price. Results from a random parameter logit model found that respondents were willing to pay an average of 18 BDT (US$0.22) for fortification and 6 BDT (US$0.073) for brand name. The market price for Shokti+ at the time of the study was 10 BDT (US$0.12). The results from a random effects model suggest the magnitude of willingness to pay for fortification was primarily driven by the nutritional awareness of respondents but offset by household food insecurity. The article concludes that, while there is a viable market for fortified yogurt in rural Bangladesh, efforts to promote this product as a strategy to address micronutrient deficiency are best targeted at low-income households with some capacity to pay for low priced commercially produced foods.

Menu engineering to encourage sustainable food choices when dining out: An online trial of priced-based decoys

Menu-based ‘nudges’ hold promise as effective ways to encourage a shift away from ruminant meat and towards more environmentally friendly plant-based food when dining out. One example of a menu-based nudge is including an inferior ‘decoy’ option to existing items on menus. Decoys have been shown to influence decision-making in other domains (e.g. Lichters, Bengart, Sarstedt, & Vogt, 2017), but have yet to be used to promote sustainable food choices. Two online randomized controlled trials tested whether the addition of higher priced ‘decoy’ vegetarian options on menus influenced the number of diners choosing a ‘target’ vegetarian option. Adjusted Generalized Estimating Equations on data from four menu conditions showed no main effect of the intervention in study 1 (decoy absent vs. decoy present; Odds Ratio (OR) 1.08 95% Confidence Interval (CI) 0.45 to 2.57). Replicating the trial in study 2 across seven menu conditions and testing a more expensive decoy also showed no main effect of the intervention decoy absent vs. decoy present; OR 0.68 (95% CI 0.41 to 1.12). Further analyses revealed that our price-based decoy strategy (a 30% price increase) did not significantly influence the number of people choosing the inferior decoy dish, possibly because dish choices were purely hypothetical. Further research is needed to clarify which attributes of a dish (e.g. taste, portion size, signature ingredients etc.) are optimal candidates for use as decoys and testing these in real world choice contexts.

Willingness-to-pay for long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets: a discrete choice experiment with real payment in Ghana

BackgroundExpanding access to long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) is difficult if one is limited to government and donor financial resources. Private commercial markets could play a larger role in the continuous distribution of LLINs by offering differentiated LLINs to middle-class Ghanaians. This population segment has disposable income and may be willing to pay for LLINs that meet their preferences. Measuring the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for LLINs with specialty features that appeal to middle-class Ghanaians could help malaria control programmes understand what is the potential for private markets to work alongside fully subsidized LLIN distribution channels to assist in spreading this commodity.MethodsThis study conducted a discrete choice experiment (DCE) including a real payment choice among a representative sample of 628 middle-income households living in Ashanti, Greater Accra, and Western regions in Ghana. The DCE presented 18 paired combinations of LLIN features and various prices. Respondents indicated which LLIN of each pair they preferred and whether they would purchase it. To validate stated willingness-to-pay, each participant was given a cash payment of $14.30 (GHS 65) that they could either keep or immediately spend on one of the LLIN products.ResultsThe households’ average probability of purchasing a LLIN with specialty features was 43.8% (S.D. 0.07) and WTP was $7.48 (GHS34.0). The preferred LLIN features were conical or rectangular one-point-hang shape, queen size, and zipper entry. The average WTP for a LLIN with all the preferred features was $18.48 (GHS 84). In a scenario with the private LLIN market, the public sector outlay could be reduced by 39% and private LLIN sales would generate $8.1 million ($311 per every 100 households) in revenue in the study area that would support jobs for Ghanaian retailers, distributors, and importers of LLINs.ConclusionResults support a scenario in which commercial markets for LLINs could play a significant role in improving access to LLINs for middle-income Ghanaians. Manufacturers interested could offer LLIN designs with features that are most highly valued among middle-income households in Ghana and maintain a retail price that could yield sufficient economic returns.

An Optimistic Engineer

An Optimistic Engineer Nick Arvin (bio) They depart in the early morning hours in a rainstorm, and as they drive north the sheets of falling water turn to windblown snow. The client leads in an SUV with a couple of his employees; Jake follows in his own SUV, Reggie beside him. Despite the weather, the client presses the speed limit, 75 mph in Colorado, 80 mph in Wyoming. Two hours. Three hours. "We're going to die," Jake says, repeatedly. "We're going to die in flames and snow." The wipers labor, and the tires carry forward on the icy lanes as if floating. In the passenger seat, Reggie sleeps. Reggie is hard of hearing. It is late May; five days ago it was 90 degrees. Despite the specter of imminent death, it is a long drive, and Jake's thoughts stray to other depressing topics. When they finish their work today, they will spend the night in Gillette. Jake's ex-wife, Deb, is from Gillette, her father a welder and rodeo cowboy, but she moved to Denver the moment she finished high school, and she always said she loathed the wind, dust, and emptiness of Wyoming. Then, as soon as she and Jake were divorced, she moved back to Gillette. Jake notes gloomily that it would be a terrible mistake to go see her. Fiascos will ensue. Yet, of course, while he's in Gillette, he will try to see her. It's doom. But maybe she can help him with the boys. Maybe there's some tiny chance. Reggie in the passenger seat wakes and tells a story about a compressor station that he helped design years ago, which later caught fire. "Of course, a fire starts, they just get everyone out, close the block valves, and let the place burn to the ground! Wasn't my fault, thank God! Bad relief valve!" Due to his difficulty hearing, Reggie speaks as if yelling to someone in another room. The snow turns back to rain. Perhaps they won't die after all. And maybe it doesn't matter anyway, Jake thinks, since every day is either a slow death or a fast death. That's the only real choice. He tells Reggie—because it's necessary during this trip, and he wants to get it out of the way—that he'll probably have to shut down the office next week and file for bankruptcy. "You've said that a hundred times!" Reggie says. [End Page 18] This time it's absolutely true, but Jake doesn't say that. Instead he says, "The thing everyone forgets about the boy who cried wolf is that eventually the wolf did come and eat everything up." ________ At a gas station, they meet several men who work for the Arroyo Pipeline Company. In a convoy of SUVs, they pass over a cattle guard and proceed by gravel backroads and two-tracks into the rolling empty expanse of prairie. Eventually, they arrive at a complex of machinery on a large square of gravel. Massive engines power reciprocating compressors interconnected by steel pipes with huge vessels half buried in the earth and a 25-foot flare stack flaming at the top with a continuous ripping sound. The machines here pull natural gas from wellheads, knock out some of the liquids that come with the gas, and then push the gas on to other facilities for more cleanup, more compression, and finally to factories, power plants, homes, and kitchen stovetops. Jake has spent a lot of time in places like this, and still it seems a miracle that it all doesn't blow up and kill him. Who knows when the relief valves were last tested? The operators mention that these engines have more than 100,000 operating hours each. They mention "deferred maintenance." The client draws Jake away from the others. The client's name is Samuel, and Jake worked with him years ago, when they were young engineers, designing and building natural gas liquids terminals in the Four Corners area. He wants to know what Jake thinks. "What are you hoping I'll think?" Jake asks. "I think it looks fine," Samuel...

Reconsidering Risk Aversion

Risk aversion is typically inferred from real or hypothetical choices over risky lotteries, but such “untutored” choices may reflect mistakes rather than preferences. We develop a procedure to obtain a better measure of normatively relevant preferences: after eliciting untutored choices, we confront participants with their choices that are inconsistent with intertemporal-expected-utility axioms and allow them to reconsider their choices. We demonstrate this procedure via a survey about hypothetical retirement investment choices administered to 596 Cornell students. We find that, on average, reconsidered choices are more consistent with almost all axioms, with one exception related to a counterfactual reference point.

Reconsidering Risk Aversion

Risk aversion is typically inferred from real or hypothetical choices over risky lotteries, but such “untutored” choices may reflect mistakes rather than preferences. We develop a procedure to disentangle preferences from mistakes : after eliciting untutored choices, we confront participants with their choices that are inconsistent with expected-utility axioms (broken down enough to be self-evident) and allow them to reconsider their choices. We demonstrate this procedure via a survey about hypothetical retirement investment choices administered to 596 Cornell students. We find that, on average, reconsidered choices are more consistent with almost all expected-utility axioms, with one exception related to regret.