Search Results
Working Paper
The effects of expectations on perception: experimental design issues and further evidence
Numerous studies have found that top-down processes can affect perceptions. This study examines some of the issues involved in designing field experiments aimed at discovering whether top-down mental processes affect perceptions, and, if so, how the influence takes place. Lee, Frederick, and Ariely (2006) (LFA) attempt to go further by testing whether expectations affect perception directly, by altering how sensory receptors and/or the brain?s processing centers interpret a outside stimulus?or indirectly, for example, by changing the amount of attention paid to the outside stimulus. In order ...
Working Paper
Moral hazard, peer monitoring, and microcredit: field experimental evidence from Paraguay
Given the substantial amount of resources currently invested in microcredit programs, it is more important than ever to accurately assess the extent to which peer monitoring by borrowers faced with group liability contracts actually reduces moral hazard. We conduct a field experiment with women about to enter a group loan program in Paraguay and then gather administrative data on the members' repayment behavior in the six-month period following the experiment. In addition to the experiment which is designed to measure individual propensities to monitor under incentives similar to group ...