IAREP Early Career Researcher Workshop

Organised by Michal Krol, UiA

Presentations: 

11.00-11.40: Diana Jaworska: The role of fear of missing out in the consumer decision-making strategies

11.40-12.20: Laura Krumm: The relationship between pro-environmental behavior, subjective well-being and environmental impact: a meta-analysis

12.20-13.00: Aja Ropret Homar: Combatting climate change through message framing? A revealed preference experiment on voluntary carbon offsets

13.00-13.40 Lunch break

13.40-14.20: Kristjan Pulk: The Effect of Choice Architecture on the Decision to take Early Retirement

14.20-15.00: Lilith Burgstaller: You Don't Need an Invoice, Do You? An Online Experiment on Collaborative Tax Evasion

15.00-15.40: Marcel Seifert: Promoting sustainable investments with self-efficacy: Evidence from experienced investors and laypeople in an incentivized experiment

Discussants will be: Michal Krol, Leonhard Lades, Gerrit Antonides, Matthias Kasper, Eva Hofmann, and Thomas Post 

All interested conference participants are warmly invited to join!

Kristiansand municipality cordially invites us to a reception in the City Hall in the center of Kristiansand. This is conveniently close to all hotels. 

You may register for the conference and enjoy a drink and some food.

Welcome speeches will be given by: 

• Deputy Mayor Erik Rostoft
• Vice Rector for external relations and innovation at UiA, Gøril Hannås
• IAREP president Gerrit Antonides
• Conference organiser Ellen K Nyhus

Abstract: Command, control and punishment are the traditional pillars of tax compliance enforcement. Classical economic theory of tax behavior provides a clear but limited arsenal of means to ensure compliance with the law. The interest of behavioral-economics and economic-psychology in identifying motives and understanding drivers of taxpayer behavior, has stimulated much research that reveals a complex pattern of determinants of citizens’ willingness to cooperate with the authorities. Despite recommendations to integrate behavioral insights in strategies to ensure compliance and to establish co-operative relationships between tax authorities and taxpayers, the mindset of tax authorities and auditors is still shaped by the conviction that audits and fines are the necessary and sufficient tools for enforcing compliance.

Empirical evidence shows that audits and fines are necessary, but when used indiscriminately, they can backfire. Audits and fines are an expression of authorities’ coercive power. However, power is Janus-faced: if legitimate and based on trustworthiness, it is likely to produce the intended effects; when trust in authorities is low, taxpayers are likely to react with anger and fear to deterrence and to develop strategies to evade enforcement. In order to ensure compliance with the law, it is therefore necessary to build and strengthen trust. Especially in times of crisis, trust must be strengthened by ensuring that taxpayers understand the tax law and perceive it as fair. The need for measures to safeguard the economy must be communicated clearly and measures must be justified in a transparent manner. Bureaucracy must be kept simple and supportive services need to be provided. It is essential to guarantee distributional and procedural justice, and to ensure that cooperation and solidarity is the binding social norm in society.

Professor Mellers will present a reference-point theory of preferences between sure things and binary gambles with outcomes that are equidistant from the sure thing and opposite in sign. The theory posits that, for such choices, the sure thing is a natural reference point for assessing risk: it is what happens if the risky option is rejected. We measure choices and judged feelings of pleasure about accepting the risky and the riskless options and obtaining the gain and the loss. The reference-point theory predicts choice and characterizes decision makers using hedonic contrasts (loss aversion or gain seeking) and beliefs about outcomes (optimism or pessimism). These factors depend on the valence of the reference point. Decision makers who rate the reference point as pleasurable are often loss averse, pessimistic and risk averse. Those who rate the reference point as painful tend to be gain seeking, optimistic and risk seeking. Risk characterizations provide the motives and uncover the reasons that people take and avoid risks.

NB! After the lecture, there will be two buses outside the main entrance that will transport you to the city center.

Join us for a fantastic boat trip in the idylic archipelago around Kristiansand. M/S Marten has been built with scenic attractions in mind. The lounge is equipped with large windows which allows you to experience the sights from a warm atmosphere if the weather is cold or if it is raining.  M/S Maarten also has lots of deck space. Since there is not enough space for all IAREP-delegates at once, we have organised two cruises - the last one will be a sunset cruise. You will be served a drink and a wrap. There will be an open bar on board. The boat leaves from PIR 6 in the city center (see map available at the registration desk). 

More information about the boat here:  https://www.maarten.no/en/cruise-with-maarten/60-sightseeing-with-m-s-maarten-around-kristiansand-and-skippergada

We hope for warm and sunny weather, but we recommend that you bring a windbreaker and/or sweater. You may check the weather forecast here: https://pent.no/58.14671,7.9956

Abstract: Climate change is one of the existential risks of today. How can the demand side of markets be motivated to contribute to limiting greenhouse gas emissions as needed? The recently published 6th IPCC Assessment Report features a new chapter on demand-side climate politics. It is the first time within the IPCC process that consumer behaviour – avoid, shift, improve consumption choices - is spotlighted. At the same time, in light of the war in Ukraine and unheard energy security risks, public debate and politicians’ interest have recently turned to feature behaviour change as a promising option. In this talk, Reisch discusses the opportunities and limits of demand-side policies, specifically behavioural insights-based policies. Where do we stand? What do we know? Where is the evidence still scarce? What are the limits to using behavioural approaches in liberal societies?

Welcome to the IAREP mission session

This session presents the results of an effort in developing a mission statement for IAREP, including its identity, purpose, goals, and strategy. A small task force, moderated by Gerrit Antonides and Serena Iacobucci, has formulated such statements. The statements may be used in IAREP communications and may serve as the basis for future IAREP actions. The session is meant to explain the process and the results of this effort, followed by a discussion.

The IAREP Managing Committee cordially invites you to attend the annual General Assembly meeting.

Agenda

1. Opening

2. Minutes GA 13 June 2021

3. Treasurer’s report and budget

4. Editors report

5. Funding activities

6. Change of IAREP rules (Digital Market Specialist)

7. Honorary members

8. Future conferences in 2023 and thereafter

7. Any other business

(For points 2 and 6, see the Spring 2022 IAREP Newsletter, items 3 and 4, resp.)

The venue of the conference dinner is Christiansholm Fortress. The fortress has a unique location in the center of the city with a great view of our beautiful coast. It is easy to reach from the hotels in the city center. 

We will enjoy some jazz music and tapas and learn the winner of this year's Best student paper award. 

More information about the fortress here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christiansholm_Fortress

Abstract: The idea of people being selfish in their behavior has been a dominant feature of economics. In this lecture, Tungodden will argue that the moral perspective is equally important for understanding human nature, and that selfish and moral considerations interact in shaping our choices. In particular, he will discuss the extent to which people find selfish behavior to be morally acceptable. He will also review experiential evidence from across the world showing that people differ in how they understand fairness and what they consider to be fair and unfair inequality. In this discussion, Tungodden will focus on the importance of distinguishing between fairness preferences and beliefs. He will further discuss how people trade off fairness and other moral considerations, in particular the extent to which people care about the equality-efficiency trade off that figures prominently in economics. Finally, he will speculate about the origins of moral preferences and their relevance for understanding political support for redistribution.