arXiv subjects

Diego Jorrat

Publications and source records attributed to Diego Jorrat.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Did you know that Economics is not only about money? The effect of popularisation talks on high school students' interest in the discipline

This paper evaluates the effect of a short, interactive popularisation talk on upper-secondary students' interest in Economics. This contrasts with previous research, which has primarily examined impersonal interventions to boost interest in Economics. The intervention presents Economics as an empirical social science engaged with real-world social problems. Using a cluster-randomised field experiment conducted during secondary-school campus visits in Spain, we find no statistically significant average effect on stated interest in studying Economics. However, the intervention generates substantial heterogeneity: those with stronger altruistic preferences become significantly more likely to express interest after the talk. These findings suggest that informational outreach may shape who perceives the discipline as aligned with their motivations, even if it does not substantially increase overall interest. More broadly, they indicate that presenting Economics as empirical and socially relevant may broaden the profile of those who consider the field.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2022

The effect of ambiguity in strategic environments: an experiment

We experimentally study a game in which success requires a sufficient total contribution by members of a group. There are significant uncertainties surrounding the chance and the total effort required for success. A theoretical model with max-min preferences towards ambiguity predicts higher contributions under ambiguity than under risk. However, in a large representative sample of the Spanish population (1,500 participants) we find that the ATE of ambiguity on contributions is zero. The main significant interaction with the personal characteristics of the participants is with risk attitudes, and it increases contributions. This suggests that policymakers concerned with ambiguous problems (like climate change) do not need to worry excessively about ambiguity.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2020

Paid and hypothetical time preferences are the same: Lab, field and online evidence

The use of hypothetical instead of real decision-making incentives remains under debate after decades of economic experiments. Standard incentivized experiments involve substantial monetary costs due to participants' earnings and often logistic costs as well. In time preferences experiments, which involve future payments, real payments are particularly problematic. Since immediate rewards frequently have lower transaction costs than delayed rewards in experimental tasks, among other issues, (quasi)hyperbolic functional forms cannot be accurately estimated. What if hypothetical payments provide accurate data which, moreover, avoid transaction cost problems? In this paper, we test whether the use of hypothetical - versus real - payments affects the elicitation of short-term and long-term discounting in a standard multiple price list task. One-out-of-ten participants probabilistic payment schemes are also considered. We analyze data from three studies: a lab experiment in Spain, a well-powered field experiment in Nigeria, and an online extension focused on probabilistic payments. Our results indicate that paid and hypothetical time preferences are mostly the same and, therefore, that hypothetical rewards are a good alternative to real rewards. However, our data suggest that probabilistic payments are not.

physics.soc-ph↗