Abstract
Behavior within an experiment is generally explained by either a pure profit motive or a response to the context of the experiment which is likely driven by different factors such as individuals' environmental friendliness. Are participants in laboratory experiments responding to the context of the experimental setting and not merely to a profit motive? Using a preliminary analysis, I draw evidence from data collected in a two-stage laboratory experiment designed and conducted by Palm-Forster et al. (In Press) at the University of Delaware. In the first stage of the experiment, participants performed a series of tasks concerning their tradeoffs between monetary profits and environmental friendliness. In the second stage, participants made a choice of donating to a large environmental organization. In total, 156 undergraduate students participated in the experiment. The analysis in this paper provides preliminary results that need to be verified in future research after overcoming key model specification issues.
Primary Advisor
Dr. Tongzhe Li
Program Reader
Dr. Marcelo Arbex
Additional committee member(s)
Dr. Leah Palm-Forster
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Economics
Document Type
Major Research Paper
Convocation Year
2018