Dolphins swim in the ocean and apparently cannot live out of water. It begs the question, do they just pretend to be mammals? We propose to subject 10 randomly sampled dolphins to our novel mammalian test to finally resolve this question. The test involves running, climbing and digging to get delicious food.
Are consumers sensitive to carbon emission labels? Evidence on calorie counts a little mixed; this review suggests they do lower consumption: https://cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD009315.pub2/full The study can be done in the field by offering to label a portion of consumer goods or in the lab by offering to purchase consumer goods with different labels. Ideally needs to be done with several brands and several types of consumer goods. (Inspired by Arpit Gupta's tweet).
Two people, 1 and 2, are said to have common knowledge of an event E if both know it, 1 knows that 2 knows it, 2 knows that 1 knows is, 1 knows that 2 knows that 1 knows it, and so on. THEOREM. If two people have the same priors, and their posteriors for an event A are common knowledge, then these posteriors are equal.
Major depressions (which involves a decrease in ability to enjoy life/utility) often follow significant bad events. It indicates that memories affect current preferences. What are the implication of incorporating past utility into preferences? Let's assume that individual's utility depends both on expectations and on memories. One potential specification is that in each period $t$ an individual is maximizing the following function by choosing a consumption function $c()$: $$V(t)=u(c(t))+E\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} d(t-\tau) V(\tau)d\tau$$ In this equation $d()$ is a discounting function (for example, $\exp(-(t-\tau)^2)$) and $u()$ is some instantaneous payoff function. The discrete case analogue: $$V_t=u(c_t)+\sum_{s=1}^T d_sV_s,t=1,2,..T$$ Or in more general case with utility aggregator $W()$: $$V(t)=W(u(c(t)),E\int_{-\infty}^{\infty} d(t-\tau) V(\tau)d\tau)$$ The interaction between memories and current life satisfaction can affect welfare calculus of misery-reducing interventions if they not only can make people happier now but also happier for the rest of their lives. It might also have implications for intergenerational transfers (government-funded gap years for youth?). Preliminary finding: If no aggregator, these preferences are equivalent to a discounted sum of utilities with non-exponential discounting.
The richest man in the world in 2022 (Elon Musk) apparently has no Youtube Premium subscription and has to spend his time on watching ads. Assuming time spent watching ads has 0 value, at what income per hour YouTube watched does it make sense to not buy YT premium? Do people's buy decisions allow us to back out their value of time? (inspired by Anthony Lee Zhang)
Despite growing evidence on occupational and educational barriers in developing countries, there are few estimates of their effect on the aggregate productivity. This paper measures the magnitude of these barriers and their impact on aggregate productivity using the data on expected occupational choice of students. First, I document striking differences in the impact of students' academic skills on occupational choice across countries. In most developing countries academic skills of students have relatively little effect on skill intensity or earning potential of expected occupations. The observed lower sorting on skills suggests a higher incidence of occupational barriers in developing countries. Next, I evaluate the productivity costs of these sorting patterns by attributing them to latent occupational barriers and calibrate a model of occupational choice based on the Roy (1951) framework. I calibrate the model by combining the data skills and expected occupations from the PISA database with the data from nationally-representative samples of working adults. I find that occupational barriers are particularly high in developing countries in my sample and that their elimination can increase the aggregate output by up to twenty five percent.