arXiv subjects

Syngjoo Choi

Publications and source records attributed to Syngjoo Choi.

2 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Implicit Bias against a Capitalistic Society Predicts Market Earnings

This paper investigates whether ideological indoctrination by living in a communist regime relates to low economic performance in a market economy. We recruit North Korean refugees and measure their implicit bias against South Korea by using the Implicit Association Test. Conducting double auction and bilateral bargaining market experiments, we find that North Korean refugees with a larger bias against the capitalistic society have lower expectations about their earning potential, exhibit trading behavior with lower target profits, and earn less profits. These associations are robust to conditioning on correlates of preferences, human capital, and assimilation experiences.

econ.GN↗

arXiv2021

Cognitive Ability and Tournament Entry: Evidence from Three Korean Populations

We compare tournament entry among three Korean groups raised in different institutional environments: South Korea, North Korea, and China. Experiments with a random bonus show that North Korean (NK) refugees enter tournaments less often than South Korean (SK) participants and Korean-Chinese immigrants. The conditional NK-SK difference becomes statistically insignificant when Raven score is included. A choice model with probability weighting suggests that lower cognitive ability is associated with lower expected performance, more pessimistic beliefs, and, within the model, greater aversion to competition.

econ.GN↗