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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=DE-AT link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72"><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Dear all,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>You are cordially invited to attend the VCEE seminar on <b>Friday, Mar 20 <sup> </sup>from 10:00-12:00</b> (SR 3, Ground floor). We have two speakers: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Bob Slonim (U of Sidney) and Anastasia Danilov (Humboldt Univ. Berlin)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=xmsonormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm'><b><span lang=EN-US>10:00-11:00 Bob Slonim </span></b><span lang=EN-US>(U of Sidney )<br></span><b><span lang=EN-AU style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Title:</span></b><span lang=EN-AU style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Perspectives on Confusopoly Markets, General Equilibrium and Trust<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=xmsonormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:0cm;margin-right:0cm;margin-bottom:6.0pt;margin-left:0cm'><b><span lang=EN-AU style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Abstract:</span></b><span lang=EN-AU style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> Consumers in many markets face increasing numbers of providers, options and plans that lead to information overload and confusion which results in choices that deviate from the utility maximization of rational agents. The recent rise in Confusopoly markets, where firms increase choices dramatically, reduces a firm’s need to compete on price and thus increases profits. Examples include financial services, insurance products, health care services and electricity. Extensive scientific evidence on choice overload from decades of Psychology and Behavioural Economics (BE) research has uncovered several decision-making biases to help understand deviations from the utility maximizing choice. This research has led to the development of behavioural insights units across the world that are testing policies and advising policy-makers to nudge decision-makers towards choices to improve their utility.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:6.0pt'><span lang=EN-AU style='font-size:12.0pt'>In this presentation, I will first highlight the current BE approaches being used <i>in practice</i> to address biases in choices in Confusopoly markets. I will then argue that these approaches are largely devoid of the “Economics” in the BE units and that without a solid economic foundation, most of these BE efforts will ultimately fail to account for many concerns relating to general equilibrium and welfare considerations and will thus have (at best) a limited short-term positive value. I will then discuss the most promising directions that are on the near-term horizon, but currently lack almost any careful academic or empirical support to chart a clear path forward. In stepping through the most promising next generation of BE, I will argue that perhaps the single biggest obstacle for improving consumer welfare in Confusopoly markets will be consumer trust in institutions, and thus better understanding the determinants of this trust will be of critical academic and practical value.</span><span lang=EN-AU><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-AU><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-AU style='font-size:12.0pt;color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse;border:none'><tr><td style='border:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'></td><td width=12 style='width:9.0pt;border:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-left:none;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><span class=event-description><span lang=EN-US>I</span></span><span lang=EN-US>f you are interested in <b>meeting Bob Slonim <u><span style='color:red'>on Thursday 19.3.</span></u><span style='color:red'> </span></b>(meeting slots of 30’ , room no 05.303 (Kocher) please register via this doodle-link: <span class=MsoHyperlink><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US><a href="https://doodle.com/poll/hmfcbe4hved58fhm">https://doodle.com/poll/hmfcbe4hved58fhm</a><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US>11:00-12:00 Anastasia Danilov </span></b><span lang=EN-US>(U Humboldt Univ. Berlin)<br></span><span lang=EN-US>Title: Affirmative Action Policies, Effort, and Sabotage in Rank-order Tournaments: An Experiment <br>Abstract:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><span lang=EN-US>A main aim of affirmative action (AA) policies in tournaments is to enable the disadvantaged group capable of competing with their privileged counterparts. Existing research documents that incorporating AA can result in more egalitarian outcomes and higher efforts. However, the effects of the introduction and removal of AA are open questions. Also unclear is how the frame of AA, as a head-start for a disadvantaged group or a handicap to the privileged group, affect behavior. We examine these questions experimentally in which subjects participate in a real-effort tournament and have the opportunity to sabotage each other. The ability-based AA (head-start or handicap) is either introduced or cancelled in the middle of the experiment. We find that ‘balanced’ competition does not necessarily motivate the contestants to work harder. Contrary to the standard theoretical predictions, high performers decrease their effort after the introduction of AA. Such introduction does not lead to a significant increase in sabotage, but the cancellation of AA does. Additionally, we observe more effort and less sabotage (compared to an AA free tournament) when subjects had not experienced an AA free competitive environment before, i.e. they directly start with an AA competition. Finally, there are no systematic differences in reactions towards the handicap and the head-start.<br><br><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='color:#0D0D0D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='color:#333333'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse;border:none'><tr><td style='border:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'></td><td width=12 style='width:9.0pt;border:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-left:none;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'></td></tr></table><p class=MsoPlainText><span lang=EN-US style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>If you are interested in <b>meeting Anastasia Danilov </b>after the seminar<b> </b>(meeting slots of 30’ , room no 05.612 (Nermuth) please register via this doodle-link: <o:p></o:p></span></p><table class=MsoNormalTable border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0 width="100%" style='width:100.0%;border-collapse:collapse;border:none'><tr><td style='border-top:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-left:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-bottom:none;border-right:none;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'></td><td width=12 style='width:9.0pt;border-top:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-left:none;border-bottom:none;border-right:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm'></td></tr><tr style='height:9.75pt'><td style='border-top:none;border-left:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-bottom:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-right:none;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;height:9.75pt'><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:8.0pt;line-height:105%'><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;line-height:105%'><a href="https://doodle.com/poll/63htzt4vc5a28eu4">https://doodle.com/poll/63htzt4vc5a28eu4</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></td><td width=12 style='width:9.0pt;border-top:none;border-left:none;border-bottom:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;border-right:solid #D4DADE 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;height:9.75pt'></td></tr></table><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US style='color:#1F497D'><br></span><span lang=EN-US>Best regards,</span><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Gabriele Prochaska</span><span lang=EN-US style='mso-fareast-language:DE-AT'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>University of Vienna<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span class=MsoHyperlink><span lang=EN-US><a href="http://econ.univie.ac.at/">Department of Economics</a></span></span><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US>1090 Vienna<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-US><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='mso-fareast-language:DE-AT'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>