<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 15 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=DE-AT link="#467886" vlink="#96607D" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Dear members and friends of the VCEE,<br><br>You are invited to attend the VCEE seminar on Friday, December 6, 2024, from 10:30 to 12:00 hrs Vienna time. <br><br>The seminar takes place in lecture hall <b>17 (2nd floor)</b> at Oskar-Morgenstern-Platz 1.<br><br>We will have one speaker: <b>Julien Senn</b> (University of Zurich)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Webpage: </span><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><a href="https://sites.google.com/site/juliensenn/"><span lang=DE-AT>https://sites.google.com/site/juliensenn/</span></a></span><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><br>Here is more information about the talk:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Title</span></b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>: <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Leveraging Social Comparisons: The Role of Peer Assignment Policies</span></b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> (coauthored with Jan Schmitz and Christian Zehnder)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Abstract:<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>We explore whether and how different peer assignment mechanisms affect worker performance and stress. Letting individuals choose whom to compare to increases productivity to the same extent as a targeted exogenous matching policy designed to maximize motivational spillovers. These effects are significantly larger than those obtained through random assignment and their magnitude is comparable to the impact of an increase in pay of about 10 percent. A downside of targeted peer assignment is that, unlike endogenous peer selection, it leads to a large increase in stress. The key advantage of letting workers choose whom to compare to is that it allows those workers who want to be motivated to compare to a motivating peer while also permitting those for whom social comparisons have little benefits or are too stressful to avoid them. Finally, we show that social comparisons yield stronger motivational effects than comparable non-social goals.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><br>If you are interested in meeting after the seminar (meeting slots of 30’) you can register via this link:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><a href="https://nuudel.digitalcourage.de/VSDXZv9FzLYBllRW">https://nuudel.digitalcourage.de/VSDXZv9FzLYBllRW</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Best regards,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span lang=EN-GB style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Sylvia<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></body></html>