Blanca Tena Estrada

A universal basic income (UBI) would be a guaranteed income floor for both the employed and the unemployed, from which economic theory predicts a gain in bargaining power and a disincentive to work. For high earners, the increase in taxes necessary to fund this program would decrease their motivation to earn. To assess these aspects, we conducted a lab-in-the-field experiment at a State Employment Service office in Spain. The unemployed participants received either an initial unconditional endowment, framed under the logic of the solidarity condition of UBI (UBI treatment) — to examine the taxes’ effect — or as a participation fee (FEE) or no initial endowment (NONUBI). Subsequently, they faced one default randomized task from a set of four paid real-effort tasks. To study bargaining power, they could change the task up to three times and/or skip all tasks and conclude the experiment. In the FEE treatment, they yielded the highest earnings. While we did not find a statistically significant difference in earnings between the FEE and the NON-UBI treatments, the UBI differed from the NON-UBI and FEE. A likely reason could be a crowding-out of motivation by the pressure to reciprocate without believing in other participants’ deservingness of the UBI. In addition, the results reveal that females change tasks more frequently than males.

Legal scholars are discussing the idea of giving nature its own rights. However, this will only happen if the population accepts such rights in principle. To explore this question, we turn the thought experiment known as “The Last Man Argument” into an actual survey experiment. We ask a representative sample of the German population to imagine they are the last human alive and might enjoy destroying the only remaining oak tree. Using a between-subject design, we vary the motives for doing so (and, in one treatment, the object of destruction). This thought experiment is unique in removing all possible extrinsic motives for preserving nature, thus providing clean evidence for humans’ belief in nature’s intrinsic value, making a case for nature’s rights. Most men, and considerably more women, refrain from destroying the oak. This gender difference only disappears when the scenario concerns the destruction of the Brandenburg Gate, a German landmark.

This paper examines whether studying economics influences attitudes toward the commodification of societal exchanges. Survey responses from students across various fields, oversampling economics, at a German university, reveal their views on markets for different kinds of good or service (in a broad sense). Two hypotheses arise regarding the effect of studying economics on evaluating the markets: the self-selection hypothesis, which suggests that students who support free markets in a wide range of domains will tend to study economics, and the indoctrination hypothesis, which posits that studying economic theories influences students’ worldview. In three of the seven market transactions assessed, economics students are significantly more likely than non-economics students to find them appropriate. However, no difference is observed between first-semester and more advanced economics students, suggesting that studying economics does not indoctrinate students into accepting market principles. Besides supporting the self-selection hypothesis, a gender effect emerges, with female respondents finding four of the markets significantly less appropriate than non-female respondents.

Reducing meat and animal product consumption is an essential component of climate change mitigation efforts in high-income countries. In recent years, a large body of literature has emerged, assessing the potential of market-based and behavioral instruments in various contexts of food choice. We add to this evidence by investigating the impact of a change in the supply structure that affected the pricing, positioning, and availability of vegan, vegetarian, and meat-or-fish-based meals in a university cafeteria in October 2022. Our main analysis encompasses about 750,000 meal purchases from January 2022 to December 2023. We estimate that after this change, vegan meal choices are 8.5% higher, vegetarian meal choices are 22% higher, and meat-or-fish-based meals are 10% lower. After adjusting for changes in availability and meat types on offer, the estimated changes for vegan and meat/fish meals are +17% and −8%, respectively, while vegetarian choices are unaffected. Our results also suggest that meat and fish meal choices declined considerably by gradual changes in pricing and positioning that had already started before October 2022. A placebo test shows that the changes are specific to the intervention year, and we find substantial heterogeneity in these changes by customer type and pre-intervention behavior.

Multiple challenges — the refugee crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and the war in Ukraine — contest German society’s way of living. Some fear losing their social status, which might increase their immoral behaviour. Through a national survey, we elicit whether those who experience this fear would also perpetrate immoral behaviour. To elicit it, we use a version of Routley’s (1973) thought experiment “The Last Man Argument”. The results illustrate a correlation between those with the greatest fears and the destruction of the imagined last oak.

We use a computer simulation experiment with human participants to examine how coordination evolves with strong or weak ties connections. Online participants on a virtual network play the minimum effort game in five groups of five over 10 periods. We examine whether and how two factors influence it: whether participants communicate and if linking their local groups to others has an effect.