Browsing by Author "Alpízar, Francisco"

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Are They Watching You and Does It Matter? - Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment
(2010-06) Alpízar, Francisco; Martinsson, Peter
In a natural field experiment, we tested whether being alone or in a group had an effect on prosocial behavior as expressed in donations to a recreational park. We also explored whether the presence of people exogenous to the group at the time of the donation had any behavioral effect. Our first treatment aimed at identifying peer effects, whereas our second treatment was similar to being in the public eye. We found that being in a group significantly increases the share of people acting prosocially. Moreover, we found that only individuals who are part of a group are positively affected by the presence of a third party.
Credit, Insurance, and Farmers’ Liability
(2017-03) Naranjo, Maria Angelica; Pieters, Janneke; Alpízar, Francisco
To cope with losses from extreme hydro-meteorological events, governments typically implement disaster relief programs and offer debt relief to affected parties. Governments in developing countries have made extensive use of total and partial debt coverage as a way to encourage investment in key sectors and in agriculture in particular. In the context of climate change, such practices are not viable because risk is systemic and losses can easily surpass most governments’ debt relief budgets. Insurance is an obvious alternative, but insurance uptake in developing countries is typically low, and little is known about the interaction between investment, insurance, and debt relief programs, which effectively reduce borrowers’ liability. This paper examines the effect of farmers’ liability on demand for credit with and without insurance. We test predictions of a theoretical model in a lab in the field experiment with coffee farmers in Costa Rica. Farmers choose how much to invest in six different settings, described on the one hand by whether the loan is insured or not, and on the other by the probability that the government provides full debt relief. As expected, uptake of loans with insurance is significantly higher than without insurance when farmers are fully liable, and insurance is not relevant for investments if debt relief is guaranteed. Interestingly, uncertainty about liability is enough to trigger the uptake of insured debt. Our results suggest that well-defined rules for disaster relief are needed to support development of insurance markets.
Don’t Tell Me What to Do, Tell Me Who to Follow! - Field Experiment Evidence on Voluntary Donations
(2010-06-02T07:51:03Z) Alpízar, Francisco; Martinsson, Peter
We conducted a field experiment in a protected area to explore the effects of conformity to a social reference versus a comparable, but imposed, suggested donation. As observed before, we see visitors conforming to the changing social reference. On the other hand, the treatment in which we suggested a donation resulted in lower shares of visitors donating, compared to the social reference treatment, and lower conditional donations even compared to the control. We concluded that visitors look at their peers as a reference to conform to, but partially reject being confronted with an imposed suggestion on how to behave.
Paying the Price of Sweetening Your Donation - Evidence from a Natural Field Experiment
(2010-07) Alpízar, Francisco; Martinsson, Peter
Using a natural field experiment in a recreational site, a public good almost fully dependent on voluntary donations, we explored the crowding-out effect of gift rewards. First, we investigated whether receiving a map in appreciation of a donation crowded out prosocial behavior and found no significant effect of giving the map. Second, we explored the effect of adding the map to a treatment designed to increase donations. Interestingly, when the gift was combined with our attempt to trigger reputational and self image motives, the probability of donating decreased significantly, compared to the social reference treatment alone.