New IZA DPs -- Behavior / Preferences
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IZA Publications
Jan 20, 2026, 10:58:37 AMJan 20
to it...@umich.edu
Dear Italo Gutierrez,
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18205 - Blesse/Gruendler/Heil/Hermes:
The Demand for Economic Narratives
DP 18270 - Cobb-Clark/Lepinteur/Menta:
The Stability of Self-Control in Unstable Times
DP 18280 - Gangadharan/Maitra/Vecci/Veettil/Villeval:
Do Advisors’ Status and Identity Shape Adherence to Advice?
DP 18296 - Lepinteur/Powdthavee:
What Others Need: Misperceptions of Well-Being Norms and Support for Redistribution
DP 18302 - Collis/Van Effenterre:
Workplace Hostility
DP 18320 - Rendon:
Prudent Job Search and Consumption Sensitivity
DP 18330 - Yörük/Oxley/Harrison:
Corporate Presence and Charitable Giving: Evidence from Panel Data on Firms and Nonprofits
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
You might also be interested in this World of Labor content:
The labor market consequences of impatience
IZA DP No. 18205
Sebastian Blesse, Klaus Gruendler, Philipp Heil, Henning Hermes:
The Demand for Economic Narratives
Abstract:
Economic narratives are pervasive in the public discourse and can shape individual behavior. But so far we know very little about whether households actually demand and value narratives as information. We combine a comprehensive expert survey with a large-scale nationally representative household sample in the U.S. to examine the demand for economic narratives in a high-stakes environment of an unprecedentedly high recession probability. We document a substantial willingness to pay for economic narratives of more than 4 USD, which is higher than for numerical forecast information. The dominant motives for acquiring narratives are intrinsic, but a smaller share of participants also lists instrumental motives. Economic narratives improve respondents’ understanding of recession drivers and shape beliefs about the economy and spending, but exert only a minor impact on quantitative expectations. Our findings underscore the potential of narratives as a tool to improve economic unde rstanding and to foster more informed decision-making.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18205.pdf
IZA DP No. 18270
Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, Anthony Lepinteur, Giorgia Menta:
The Stability of Self-Control in Unstable Times
Abstract:
This paper examines the stability of self-control over time using nationally-representative longitudinal data from Australia. We track the same individuals between 2019 and 2023, a period encompassing one of the most disruptive global crisis in recent history: the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these extraordinary circumstances, self-control remained remarkably stable: its mean and distribution were unchanged, and individuals largely preserved their relative positions. Within-person changes were small, and unrelated to variations in state-level exposure to both the spread of the virus and the policy responses that ensued. The evidence we report suggests that self-control is a deeply rooted, trait-like characteristic that persists even under extreme societal stress.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18270.pdf
IZA DP No. 18280
Lata Gangadharan, Pushkar Maitra, Joseph Vecci, Prakashan Chellattan Veettil, Marie Claire Villeval:
Do Advisors’ Status and Identity Shape Adherence to Advice?
Abstract:
This study examines whether adherence to advice depends on an advisor’s identity and status beyond message content. Using a survey experiment with over 3000 farmers in India, we find that individuals are more likely to follow advice in a social dilemma game when it comes from high-status or in-group advisors, even when the advice diverges from prevailing norms. Admired role models can attenuate the influence of status and identity, though their beneficial effect is not universal. Our experimental findings align with evidence from an agricultural advisory program involving the same participant sample, highlighting the broader real-world relevance of these patterns.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18280.pdf
IZA DP No. 18296
Anthony Lepinteur, Nattavudh Powdthavee:
What Others Need: Misperceptions of Well-Being Norms and Support for Redistribution
Abstract:
People often misjudge what others need to live well. We introduce and measure well-being norms - the income people believe others require for a good life - and show that these beliefs are systematically underestimated. In a preregistered U.S. survey, 85–86% of respondents reported thresholds below what others say they themselves need. Two randomized survey experiments corrected these misperceptions. Respondents updated their beliefs considerably, yet support for redistribution and donation behavior remained unchanged. This null average effect, however, masks substantial heterogeneity. Among those who found the information credible and personally relevant, we observe redistribution support increasing by approximately 20% of a standard deviation, especially when the information referred to low-income families rather than the average American. Among those who dismissed it, we observe support decreasing by similar magnitudes - a pattern consistent with motivated reasoning and bac klash. The main insight is that belief updating alone does not, on average, change policy preferences. Information influences redistribution attitudes only when perceived as morally important and legitimate.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18296.pdf
IZA DP No. 18302
Manuela R. Collis, Clémentine Van Effenterre:
Workplace Hostility
Abstract:
We investigate how much individuals value a workplace that doesn't tolerate hostility, and how these preferences affect sorting in the labor market. We conduct a choice experiment involving 2,048 participants recruited from recent graduates and alumni from a large public university. Our results show that individuals are willing to forgo a significant portion of their earnings—between 12 and 36 percent of their wage—to avoid hostile work environments, valuations substantially exceeding those for remote work (7 percent). Women exhibit a stronger aversion to exclusionary workplaces and environments with sexual harassment. Combining survey evidence, experimental variations of workplace environments, and individual labor market outcomes, we show that both disutility from workplace hostility and perceptions of risk contribute to gender gaps in early-career choices and in pay. To quantify equilibrium implications, we develop a model of compensating differentials calibrated to our ex perimental estimates. Using counterfactual exercises, we find that gender differences in risk of workplace hostility drive both the remote pay penalty and office workers' rents.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18302.pdf
IZA DP No. 18320
Silvio Rendon:
Prudent Job Search and Consumption Sensitivity
Abstract:
This paper connects classical preference theory to quantitative job search and savings models. We treat job acceptance as a choice between stochastic income lotteries. By integrating Decreasing Absolute Risk Aversion (DARA) and Prudence (DAP), we derive five contributions. First, we prove the standard positive wealth effect on reservation wages is driven by the gap between the risk premium (equating total utilities) and the prudence premium (equating marginal utilities), while resolving value function concavity. Second, a unified theorem shows the wealth effect depends on the stochastic dominance of on-the-job search (OJS) versus unemployed search. We uncover a novel "Investment Fund" regime: when OJS is superior, reservation wages decrease with wealth as agents purchase access to high-growth states. Third, this explains consumption puzzles, showing the high MPC of the unemployed is an endogenous response to background risk. Fourth, we demonstrate an isomorphism between labor and savings: the reservation wage exhibits the same prudence-driven diminishing sensitivity as the consumption function. Fifth, borrowing constraints amplify wealth sensitivity without altering qualitative risk rankings.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18320.pdf
IZA DP No. 18330
Baris Yörük, Jonathan Oxley, Teresa Harrison:
Corporate Presence and Charitable Giving: Evidence from Panel Data on Firms and Nonprofits
Abstract:
In this paper, we examine specifically how the presence of corporate firms is associated with nonprofit, charitable activity in US metropolitan areas. We find evidence of a positive association consistent with Card, Hallock, and Moretti (2010) and, due to a longer time horizon with additional information on nonprofit activity, are able to provide additional investigation into how firm location affects size of the nonprofit sector and other nonprofit activities such as fundraising. Our estimates suggest a lower bound on the spillovers such that the presence of an additional firm headquarters within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) leads to a $8.2 million increase in total charitable contributions within the same MSA. Moreover, a $1 billion rise in the aggregate market value of firms within an MSA corresponds to a $0.8 million increase in local charitable donations.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18330.pdf
Please click here to change your subscription status.
If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, contact public...@iza.org.
These new IZA Discussion Papers are now available online.
DP 18205 - Blesse/Gruendler/Heil/Hermes:
The Demand for Economic Narratives
DP 18270 - Cobb-Clark/Lepinteur/Menta:
The Stability of Self-Control in Unstable Times
DP 18280 - Gangadharan/Maitra/Vecci/Veettil/Villeval:
Do Advisors’ Status and Identity Shape Adherence to Advice?
DP 18296 - Lepinteur/Powdthavee:
What Others Need: Misperceptions of Well-Being Norms and Support for Redistribution
DP 18302 - Collis/Van Effenterre:
Workplace Hostility
DP 18320 - Rendon:
Prudent Job Search and Consumption Sensitivity
DP 18330 - Yörük/Oxley/Harrison:
Corporate Presence and Charitable Giving: Evidence from Panel Data on Firms and Nonprofits
Please find the abstracts and download links below.
You might also be interested in this World of Labor content:
The labor market consequences of impatience
IZA DP No. 18205
Sebastian Blesse, Klaus Gruendler, Philipp Heil, Henning Hermes:
The Demand for Economic Narratives
Abstract:
Economic narratives are pervasive in the public discourse and can shape individual behavior. But so far we know very little about whether households actually demand and value narratives as information. We combine a comprehensive expert survey with a large-scale nationally representative household sample in the U.S. to examine the demand for economic narratives in a high-stakes environment of an unprecedentedly high recession probability. We document a substantial willingness to pay for economic narratives of more than 4 USD, which is higher than for numerical forecast information. The dominant motives for acquiring narratives are intrinsic, but a smaller share of participants also lists instrumental motives. Economic narratives improve respondents’ understanding of recession drivers and shape beliefs about the economy and spending, but exert only a minor impact on quantitative expectations. Our findings underscore the potential of narratives as a tool to improve economic unde rstanding and to foster more informed decision-making.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18205.pdf
IZA DP No. 18270
Deborah A. Cobb-Clark, Anthony Lepinteur, Giorgia Menta:
The Stability of Self-Control in Unstable Times
Abstract:
This paper examines the stability of self-control over time using nationally-representative longitudinal data from Australia. We track the same individuals between 2019 and 2023, a period encompassing one of the most disruptive global crisis in recent history: the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these extraordinary circumstances, self-control remained remarkably stable: its mean and distribution were unchanged, and individuals largely preserved their relative positions. Within-person changes were small, and unrelated to variations in state-level exposure to both the spread of the virus and the policy responses that ensued. The evidence we report suggests that self-control is a deeply rooted, trait-like characteristic that persists even under extreme societal stress.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18270.pdf
IZA DP No. 18280
Lata Gangadharan, Pushkar Maitra, Joseph Vecci, Prakashan Chellattan Veettil, Marie Claire Villeval:
Do Advisors’ Status and Identity Shape Adherence to Advice?
Abstract:
This study examines whether adherence to advice depends on an advisor’s identity and status beyond message content. Using a survey experiment with over 3000 farmers in India, we find that individuals are more likely to follow advice in a social dilemma game when it comes from high-status or in-group advisors, even when the advice diverges from prevailing norms. Admired role models can attenuate the influence of status and identity, though their beneficial effect is not universal. Our experimental findings align with evidence from an agricultural advisory program involving the same participant sample, highlighting the broader real-world relevance of these patterns.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18280.pdf
IZA DP No. 18296
Anthony Lepinteur, Nattavudh Powdthavee:
What Others Need: Misperceptions of Well-Being Norms and Support for Redistribution
Abstract:
People often misjudge what others need to live well. We introduce and measure well-being norms - the income people believe others require for a good life - and show that these beliefs are systematically underestimated. In a preregistered U.S. survey, 85–86% of respondents reported thresholds below what others say they themselves need. Two randomized survey experiments corrected these misperceptions. Respondents updated their beliefs considerably, yet support for redistribution and donation behavior remained unchanged. This null average effect, however, masks substantial heterogeneity. Among those who found the information credible and personally relevant, we observe redistribution support increasing by approximately 20% of a standard deviation, especially when the information referred to low-income families rather than the average American. Among those who dismissed it, we observe support decreasing by similar magnitudes - a pattern consistent with motivated reasoning and bac klash. The main insight is that belief updating alone does not, on average, change policy preferences. Information influences redistribution attitudes only when perceived as morally important and legitimate.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18296.pdf
IZA DP No. 18302
Manuela R. Collis, Clémentine Van Effenterre:
Workplace Hostility
Abstract:
We investigate how much individuals value a workplace that doesn't tolerate hostility, and how these preferences affect sorting in the labor market. We conduct a choice experiment involving 2,048 participants recruited from recent graduates and alumni from a large public university. Our results show that individuals are willing to forgo a significant portion of their earnings—between 12 and 36 percent of their wage—to avoid hostile work environments, valuations substantially exceeding those for remote work (7 percent). Women exhibit a stronger aversion to exclusionary workplaces and environments with sexual harassment. Combining survey evidence, experimental variations of workplace environments, and individual labor market outcomes, we show that both disutility from workplace hostility and perceptions of risk contribute to gender gaps in early-career choices and in pay. To quantify equilibrium implications, we develop a model of compensating differentials calibrated to our ex perimental estimates. Using counterfactual exercises, we find that gender differences in risk of workplace hostility drive both the remote pay penalty and office workers' rents.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18302.pdf
IZA DP No. 18320
Silvio Rendon:
Prudent Job Search and Consumption Sensitivity
Abstract:
This paper connects classical preference theory to quantitative job search and savings models. We treat job acceptance as a choice between stochastic income lotteries. By integrating Decreasing Absolute Risk Aversion (DARA) and Prudence (DAP), we derive five contributions. First, we prove the standard positive wealth effect on reservation wages is driven by the gap between the risk premium (equating total utilities) and the prudence premium (equating marginal utilities), while resolving value function concavity. Second, a unified theorem shows the wealth effect depends on the stochastic dominance of on-the-job search (OJS) versus unemployed search. We uncover a novel "Investment Fund" regime: when OJS is superior, reservation wages decrease with wealth as agents purchase access to high-growth states. Third, this explains consumption puzzles, showing the high MPC of the unemployed is an endogenous response to background risk. Fourth, we demonstrate an isomorphism between labor and savings: the reservation wage exhibits the same prudence-driven diminishing sensitivity as the consumption function. Fifth, borrowing constraints amplify wealth sensitivity without altering qualitative risk rankings.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18320.pdf
IZA DP No. 18330
Baris Yörük, Jonathan Oxley, Teresa Harrison:
Corporate Presence and Charitable Giving: Evidence from Panel Data on Firms and Nonprofits
Abstract:
In this paper, we examine specifically how the presence of corporate firms is associated with nonprofit, charitable activity in US metropolitan areas. We find evidence of a positive association consistent with Card, Hallock, and Moretti (2010) and, due to a longer time horizon with additional information on nonprofit activity, are able to provide additional investigation into how firm location affects size of the nonprofit sector and other nonprofit activities such as fundraising. Our estimates suggest a lower bound on the spillovers such that the presence of an additional firm headquarters within a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) leads to a $8.2 million increase in total charitable contributions within the same MSA. Moreover, a $1 billion rise in the aggregate market value of firms within an MSA corresponds to a $0.8 million increase in local charitable donations.
https://docs.iza.org/dp18330.pdf
Please click here to change your subscription status.
If you have trouble downloading the papers, or for any other questions regarding the IZA Discussion Paper Series, contact public...@iza.org.
IZA Publications
Jan 20, 2026, 11:00:28 AMJan 20
to italo...@gmail.com
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