Academic Journal

Who Opts In? Composition Effects and Disappointment from Participation Payments

Bibliographic Details
Title: Who Opts In? Composition Effects and Disappointment from Participation Payments
Authors: Ambuehl, Sandro, Ockenfels, Axel, Stewart, Colin
Contributors: University of Zurich
Source: The Review of Economics and Statistics
Publisher Information: MIT Press, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Subject Terms: rational inattention, ddc:000, ddc:330, incentives, screening, 05 social sciences, selection, 16. Peace & justice, 330 Economics, social sciences (miscellaneous), 10007 Department of Economics, composition effect, 0502 economics and business, evaluability, Economics and econometrics
Description: Participation payments are used in many transactions about which people know little but can learn more: incentives for medical trial participation, signing bonuses for job applicants, or price rebates on consumer durables. Who opts into the transaction when given such incentives? We theoretically and experimentally identify a composition effect whereby incentives disproportionately increase participation among those for whom learning is harder. Moreover, these individuals use less information to decide whether to participate, which makes disappointment more likely. The learning-based composition effect is stronger in settings in which information acquisition is more difficult.
Document Type: Article
Other literature type
File Description: application/pdf; Ambuehl_WhoOptsIn_227434.pdf - application/pdf
Language: English
ISSN: 1530-9142
0034-6535
DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01268
DOI: 10.5167/uzh-227434
DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01268/113776/who-opts-in-composition-effects-and-disappointment
Access URL: https://direct.mit.edu/rest/article/doi/10.1162/rest_a_01268/113776/Who-Opts-In-Composition-Effects-and-Disappointment
https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/227434/
https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-227434
Rights: CC BY NC ND
Accession Number: edsair.doi.dedup.....e2689aacb2cd72b73c9f47e56e556707
Database: OpenAIRE
Description
ISSN:15309142
00346535
DOI:10.1162/rest_a_01268