Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task

We introduce the “ball-catching task”, a novel computerized task, which combines a tangible action (“catching balls”) with induced material cost of effort. The central feature of the ball-catching task is that it allows researchers to manipulate the cost of effort function as well as the production...

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Main Authors: Gaechter, Simon, Huang, Lingbo, Sefton, Martin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30093/
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author Gaechter, Simon
Huang, Lingbo
Sefton, Martin
author_facet Gaechter, Simon
Huang, Lingbo
Sefton, Martin
author_sort Gaechter, Simon
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description We introduce the “ball-catching task”, a novel computerized task, which combines a tangible action (“catching balls”) with induced material cost of effort. The central feature of the ball-catching task is that it allows researchers to manipulate the cost of effort function as well as the production function, which permits quantitative predictions on effort provision. In an experiment with piece-rate incentives we find that the comparative static and the point predictions on effort provision are remarkably accurate. We also present experimental findings from three classic experiments, namely, team production, gift exchange and tournament, using the task. All of the results are closely in line with the stylized facts from experiments using purely induced values. We conclude that the ball-catching task combines the advantages of real effort tasks with the use of induced values, which is useful for theory-testing purposes as well as for applications.
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spelling nottingham-300932020-05-08T12:45:11Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30093/ Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task Gaechter, Simon Huang, Lingbo Sefton, Martin We introduce the “ball-catching task”, a novel computerized task, which combines a tangible action (“catching balls”) with induced material cost of effort. The central feature of the ball-catching task is that it allows researchers to manipulate the cost of effort function as well as the production function, which permits quantitative predictions on effort provision. In an experiment with piece-rate incentives we find that the comparative static and the point predictions on effort provision are remarkably accurate. We also present experimental findings from three classic experiments, namely, team production, gift exchange and tournament, using the task. All of the results are closely in line with the stylized facts from experiments using purely induced values. We conclude that the ball-catching task combines the advantages of real effort tasks with the use of induced values, which is useful for theory-testing purposes as well as for applications. Springer 2016-12-31 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en cc_by https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30093/9/Combining%20art%253A10.1007%252Fs10683-015-9465-9.pdf Gaechter, Simon, Huang, Lingbo and Sefton, Martin (2016) Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task. Experimental Economics, 19 (4). pp. 687-712. ISSN 1386-4157 Real effort task Piece-rate theory Team incentives Gift exchange Tournaments Online real effort experiment http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10683-015-9465-9 doi:10.1007/s10683-015-9465-9 doi:10.1007/s10683-015-9465-9
spellingShingle Real effort task
Piece-rate theory
Team incentives
Gift exchange
Tournaments
Online real effort experiment
Gaechter, Simon
Huang, Lingbo
Sefton, Martin
Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task
title Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task
title_full Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task
title_fullStr Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task
title_full_unstemmed Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task
title_short Combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task
title_sort combining ‘‘real effort’’ with induced effort costs: the ball-catching task
topic Real effort task
Piece-rate theory
Team incentives
Gift exchange
Tournaments
Online real effort experiment
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30093/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30093/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/30093/