Browsing by Author "Lampi, Elina"

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Age-related risk of female infertility: A comparison between perceived personal and general risks
(2006) Lampi, Elina; Department of Economics
Based on a survey of a random sample of Swedish females aged 20-40 this paper investigates: (1) whether women have correct perception of the age-related risk of female infertility, (2) whether the perceptions of the personal risk and the general risk in the own age group differ from each other, and (3) which factors can explain the difference between the stated personal and general risks if there are any. The results show that women do know that the likelihood of being infertile increases with age, while they clearly overestimate the general risks for women older than 34. The results also show that mothers have a too optimistic picture of their own fertility, while non-mothers have not. Several factors that explain differences between the stated personal and general risks are discussed.
Dealing with ignored attributes in choice experiments on valuation of Sweden’s environmental quality objectives
(2008-02-20T09:59:46Z) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina
In this paper we use follow-up questions to investigate whether attributes have been ignored in a choice experiment on environmental goods. This information is subsequently used in the estimation of the model by restricting the individual parameters for the ignored attributes to zero. We then separately estimate the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for the whole sample and for those who took all attributes into account. We find no significant differences in mean marginal WTP between these two models. However, when taking the shares of respondents who considered both the environmental and the cost attributes (52 -69 percent of the respondents) into account, then the marginal WTPs for each attribute change if the respondents who ignored the attributes have a zero WTP. Hence, not taking into account whether respondents have considered the attribute could give biased welfare estimates and wrong policy implications. We also investigate whether any socioeconomic characteristics can explain who ignores attributes, and find that very few of the variables are significant, indicating that we can only partly explain the behavior.
Difference in Preferences or in Preference Orderings? Comparing Choices of Environmental Bureaucrats, Recreational Anglers, and the Public
(2016-08) Eggert, Håkan; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Do Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bureaucrats represent the general public or are they more in line with an interest group? We study preferences for environmental policy using a choice experiment (CE) on three populations; the general public, Swedish EPA bureaucrats, and recreational anglers. We also test for existence of multiple preference orderings, i.e., whether responses differ depending on the decision role assigned. Half of the respondents were asked to choose the alternatives that best corresponded with their opinion, and the other half was asked to take the role of a policymaker and make recommendations for environmental policy. The SEPA bureaucrats have the highest marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) to improve environmental quality. These differences are robust and not due to differences in socio-economic characteristics across the populations. We found little evidence of multiple preference orderings, but in one case the difference in MWTP between the two roles was substantial.
Do EPA administrators recommend environmental policies that citizens want?
(2008-04-14T13:28:50Z) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina
We investigate whether Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator preferences regarding improvements in environmental quality differ from citizen preferences. The scope and significance of the possible difference are assessed by conducting identical choice experiments (CE) on a random sample of Swedish citizens and a random sample of administrators working at the Swedish EPA. The experiment concerns two environmental quality objectives: a Balanced Marine Environment and Clean Air. The EPA administrators were asked to choose the alternatives they would recommend as a policy, while the citizens were asked to act as private persons. We find that the rankings of attributes differ between the two groups, and that there are significant differences in the willingness to pay (WTP) for particular attributes. EPA administrators have a higher WTP for five out of the seven attributes, and in some cases the difference is not only significant but also substantial. We also asked the administrators to motivate their CE choices, and the main motive was ecological sustainability.
Do you trust me? – Go Fish! A Study on Trust and Fisheries Management
(2016-10) Eggert, Håkan; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
This paper investigates trust among stakeholders in fisheries management. We asked the general public, environmental bureaucrats, and recreational and commercial fishers whether they believed various stakeholders have sufficient knowledge to take a stance regarding fisheries management issues in a choice experiment they themselves had just been exposed to. We found that the general public and recreational fishers tend to trust bureaucrats to have sufficient knowledge, while bureaucrats distrust the general public. The commercial fishers in our sample deviate from the other respondents with high self-trust and low trust in both the general public and bureaucrats. In addition, bureaucrats tend to think that their colleagues are more knowledgeable than them. When looking at observable characteristics, we find that, regardless of comparison group, males show higher trust in their own knowledge than do females, and those with higher education believe they are more knowledgeable than people in general.
Doing good with other people’s money: A charitable giving experiment with students in environmental sciences and economics
(2011-01) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Levati, M. Vittoria
We augment a standard dictator game to investigate how preferences for an environmental project relate to willingness to limit others’ choices. We explore this issue by distinguishing three student groups: economists, environmental economists, and environmental social scientists. We find that people are generally disposed to grant freedom of choice, but only within certain limits. In addition, our results are in line with the widely held belief that economists are more selfish than other people. Yet, against the notion of consumer sovereignty, economists are not less likely to restrict others’ choices and impose restrictions closer to their own preferences than the other student groups.
Family-Size Effects on Earnings – Definitions Matter
(2009-05-20T12:02:30Z) Lampi, Elina; Nordblom, Katarina
Number of siblings has previously been found to adversely affect earned income. However, we still lack understanding of whether nature or nurture drives this effect. We examine in detail the effects of having different kinds of siblings and find that the number of siblings one grew up with has a strong negative effect on earnings, while the total number of siblings as such has no significant effect. We also find that number of full-siblings has a strong effect irrespective of having grown up together. Hence, both nature and nurture play a role.
Food labels: how consumers value moral, environmental, and health aspects of meat consumption
(2020-04) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Nyberg, Erik; Sterner, Thomas; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Policy changes could improve health and environmental outcomes by addressing the many externalities and internalities related to food consumption. Using a stated preference approach, we investigate to what extent consumers are willing to make costlier food consumption choices if doing so contributes to decrease environmental externalities, health damages, and animal suffering. We find a considerable willingness to pay for some aspects of the food bought. People are willing to pay an additional 50% for a product if it carries a label declaring that the product meets the highest available standards in terms of healthiness, animal welfare, and antibiotics use, respectively. The willingness to pay for a climate impact label is also sizeable but smaller. We compare a traffic-light label with a plain-text label and a grey-scale label in order to disentangle the effects of introducing labels Our results are mixed, suggesting that a traffic-light label has both normative and cognitive effects on behavior.
Gender and birth-order differences in time and risk preferences and decisions
(2009-10-05T11:40:12Z) Lampi, Elina; Nordblom, Katarina
We study how gender, birth order, and number of siblings are related to stated time and risk preferences and to real-life decisions. We use survey data covering about 2,300 individuals and find that time and risk preferences are significantly correlated among women but not among men. We also find that stated time and risk preferences have clear explanatory power for real-life decisions, but in different ways for men and women. Moreover, risk preferences have stronger explanatory power for males than for females, whose decisions are more related to birth order and number of siblings. For example, the often claimed result that first-borns are more likely to have higher education is found among women only, while risk aversion and patience can explain part of men´s corresponding choice.
Gender Differences in Competitiveness: Experimental Evidence from China
(2019-06) Carlsson, Fredrik; Lampi, Elina; Martinsson, Peter; Yang, Xiaojun; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Experimental evidence from both the lab and the field shows that women on average have a lower propensity to enter a competitive environment. In this paper, we investigate gender differences in competitiveness using a lab-in-the-field experiment and a subject pool consisting of Chinese adults. China provides an interesting environment to study in this regard since the country has promoted gender equality for a long time and the gender gap in earnings is small in a cross-country comparison. However, in many respects, China is still a patriarchal society. Our experimental results show that women perform equally well as men in a piece-rate task and significantly better in a competitive payment environment. Despite this, men are more than twice as likely to voluntarily choose a competitive environment. This gender difference cannot be explained by differences in risk preferences or overconfidence.
How much does it take? Willingness to switch to meat substitutes
(University of Gothenburg, 2021-01) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Department of Economics
Meat production and consumption have several negative environmental externalities and health impacts. Using a stated preference survey, this study identifies main barriers to and drivers of switching to the following meat substitutes: a plant-based veggie burger, a meat-like burger, and a lab burger. We find that price matters: given the right monetary incentives, many individuals express a willingness to switch to meatless alternatives. About a third of those who prefer meat would consider switching to a meat substitute if the price were two-thirds or less of the price of the meat option. However, almost half of the respondents would not choose a lab meat burger even if they would get it for free. Male individuals without university education and older than 30 years show a stronger resistance to substitute meat hamburgers, in particular if the substitute is a plant-based veggie burger that neither looks nor tastes like meat. Environmental and health consciousness and being familiar with the substitute are correlated with the willingness to substitute. Older individuals are less familiar with and less likely to choose meat substitutes compared with younger individuals. We also find that taste is a prominent barrier for people who prefer meat, indicating that there is room for improvements in the taste of the different meat substitutes.
Individual Preferences, Choices, and Risk Perceptions - Survey Based Evidence
(2008-05-14T11:51:33Z) Lampi, Elina
Paper 1 investigates how birth order and having siblings affect positional concerns in terms of success at work and of income. We find that only-children are the most positional, but that number of siblings increases the concern for their position among those who grew up together with siblings. Furthermore, people whose parents often compared them with their siblings have stronger positional concerns in general. Paper 2 analyzes whether an introduction of an entrance fee affects visitor composition at a Swedish state-funded museum, namely the Museum of World Culture. We conducted two surveys in order to collect information about the visitors’ socio-economic backgrounds, one before and one after the introduction of the entrance fee. While the entrance was still free, we asked visitors about their willingness to pay (WTP) for a visit, using the Contingent Valuation (CV) method. The results of the CV survey show that several target group visitors that the museum wishes to reach are less likely to visit the museum even at a very low fee level. By comparing the CV results and the observed post-introduction change in visitor composition, we conclude that CV does predict a majority of the changes successfully. In Paper 3 we use a choice experiment to study whether Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator preferences regarding improvements in environmental quality differ from citizen preferences. The EPA administrators were asked to choose the alternatives they would recommend as a policy, while the citizens were asked to act as private persons. We find that the attribute rankings and the WTP levels for particular attributes differ between the two groups. We also find that ecological sustainability is more important for the administrators than the preferences of ordinary people regarding changes in environmental quality. Paper 4 analyzes the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for changes in noise levels related to changes in the volume of take-offs and landings at a city airport in Stockholm, by using a choice experiment. When estimating MWTP for different times of the day and days of the week, we find that these vary with temporal dimensions: mornings and evenings have higher values. Paper 5 investigates whether women have correct perceptions about the age-related risk of female infertility, whether the perceptions of the personal and the general risk in the own age group differ, and if so, which factors can explain the difference. The results show that women overestimate the general risks for women older than 34, and that mothers in general have a too optimistic picture of their own fertility while nonmothers do not. Paper 6 analyzes from which channels of information women get information about the general risks of age-related female infertility and how the different channels of information affect women’s risk perceptions. We find that media reaches women of all ages, while only about one-fourth have received information from the health care system. Furthermore, information from friends and relatives makes women more likely to overestimate the risks. Since women are most interested in receiving information from the health care system, we argue that system authorities should inform women earlier than what is being done today.
Individual Preferences, Choices, and Risk Perceptions-Survey Based Evidence
(2008) Lampi, Elina
Individual Preferences, Choices, and Risk Perceptions -Survey Based EvidenceavElina LampiAKADEMISK AVHANDLINGsom med vederbörligt tillstånd för vinnande avfilosofie doktorsexamen vidHandelshögskolans fakultet, Göteborgs universitet,framlägges till offentlig granskningtorsdagen den 5 juni 2008, kl 10, i sal E-44,Institutionen för nationalekonomi med statistik, Vasagatan 1Göteborg 2008Individual Preferences, Choices, and Risk Perceptions - Survey Based EvidenceAbstractPaper 1 investigates how birth order and having siblings affect positional concerns in terms of success at work and of income. We find that only-children are the most positional, but that number of siblings increases the concern for their position among those who grew up together with siblings. Furthermore, people whose parents often compared them with their siblings have stronger positional concerns in general.Paper 2 analyzes whether an introduction of an entrance fee affects visitor composition at a Swedish state-funded museum, namely the Museum of World Culture. We conducted two surveys in order to collect information about the visitors socio-economic backgrounds, one before and one after the introduction of the entrance fee. While the entrance was still free, we asked visitors about their willingness to pay (WTP) for a visit, using the Contingent Valuation (CV) method. The results of the CV survey show that several target group visitors that the museum wishes to reach are less likely to visit the museum even at a very low fee level. By comparing the CV results and the observed post-introduction change in visitor composition, we conclude that CV does predict a majority of the changes successfully.In Paper 3 we use a choice experiment to study whether Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator preferences regarding improvements in environmental quality differ from citizen preferences. The EPA administrators were asked to choose the alternatives they would recommend as a policy, while the citizens were asked to act as private persons. We find that the attribute rankings and the WTP levels for particular attributes differ between the two groups. We also find that ecological sustainability is more important for the administrators than the preferences of ordinary people regarding changes in environmental quality.Paper 4 analyzes the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for changes in noise levels related to changes in the volume of take-offs and landings at a city airport in Stockholm, by using a choice experiment. When estimating MWTP for different times of the day and days of the week, we find that these vary with temporal dimensions: mornings and evenings have higher values.Paper 5 investigates whether women have correct perceptions about the age-related risk of female infertility, whether the perceptions of the personal and the general risk in the own age group differ, and if so, which factors can explain the difference. The results show that women overestimate the general risks for women older than 34, and that mothers in general have a too optimistic picture of their own fertility while non-mothers do not.Paper 6 analyzes from which channels of information women get information about the general risks of age-related female infertility and how the different channels of information affect women s risk perceptions. We find that media reaches women of all ages, while only about one-fourth have received information from the health care system. Furthermore, information from friends and relatives makes women more likely to overestimate the risks. Since women are most interested in receiving information from the health care system, we argue that system authorities should inform women earlier than what is being done today.Keywords: administrators, aircraft, airports, birth order, choice experiment, citizens, environmental policy, female infertility, free entrance, general risk, health care, information, media, museum, natural experiment, noise, only-child, optimistic bias, personal risk, positional concern, relative income, siblings, stated preferences, visitor composition.JEL codes: D12, D31, D61, D63, D81, D83, H41, I10, J13, Q51, Q58, Z11ISBN: 91-85169-34-X (978-91-85169-34-4)Contact information: Elina Lampi, Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, SE-40530 Göteborg, Sweden. Tel: + 46 31 7861393, e-mail: elina.lampi@economics.gu.se
Is Fairness Blind? - The effect of framing on preferences for effort-sharing rules
(2010-03-29T13:33:34Z) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Löfgren, Åsa; Sterner, Thomas
By using a choice experiment, this paper focuses on citizens’ preferences for effort-sharing rules of how carbon abatement should be shared among countries. We find that Swedes do not rank the rule favoring their own country highest. Instead, they prefer the rule where all countries are allowed to emit an equal amount per person, a rule that favors Africa at the expense of high emitters such as the U.S. The least preferred rule is reduction proportional to historical emissions. Using two different treatments, one where the respondents were informed about the country names and one where the country names were replaced with anonymous labels A-D, we also test whether people’s preferences for effort-sharing rules depend on the framing of the problem. We find that while the ranking of the principles is the same in both treatments, the strength of the preferences is significantly increased when the actual names of the countries are used.
Kostnader av elavbrott för svenska elkunder
(2019-03) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Martinsson, Peter; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Leading by example? EU citizens’ preferences for climate leadership
(University of Gothenburg, 2022-10) Carlsson, Fredrik; Kataria, Mitesh; Lampi, Elina; Löfgren, Åsa; Sterner, Thomas; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
For global problems like climate change, strong international agreements are difficult to achieve. Alternative solutions might therefore be necessary. In this paper, we study the support for climate leadership in seven European countries. Climate leadership means that an individual country takes the lead by decreasing its carbon emissions above its level of commitment in the current EU agreement and with the intention of inspiring other countries to do likewise. Overall, we find that at realistic cost levels, a majority of people oppose their country taking the lead, and most do not expect that taking the lead will result in other countries following suit. The lack of support is caused by expectations that such leadership will result in other countries behaving as free riders. We do, however, find evidence of preferences for conditional leadership: People are more positive about their country taking the lead if assured that other countries will follow. These preferences are stronger among those who identify as leftwing. Moreover, citizens in smaller countries are more pessimistic that other countries would follow their country’s lead and more sensitive to the response of other EU countries.
Long-run effects of family policies: An experimental study of the Chinese one-child policy
(2018-05) Carlsson, Fredrik; Lampi, Elina; Martinsson, Peter; Tu, Qin; Yang, Xiaojun; Dept. of Economics, University of Gothenburg
We present lab-in-the-field experimental evidence of the effects of the Chinese one-child policy on individuals’ preferences and behavior as adults. The experiments were conducted in three different provinces because the policy was not strictly implemented at the same time in all provinces. We measure risk and time preferences, as well as subjects’ competitiveness, cooperation, and bargaining behavior, sampling individuals born both before and after the introduction of the policy. Overall, we do not find any sizeable or statistically significant effects of the one-child policy on preferences or behavior in any of the experiments. These results hold for heterogeneity in the timing of the implementation of the OCP in different provinces, for heterogeneity among individuals, and for various robustness checks.
Measuring marginal values of noise disturbance from air traffic: Does the time of the day matter?
(2004) Martinsson, Peter; Lampi, Elina; Carlsson, Fredrik; Department of Economics
This paper analyzes the marginal willingness to pay for changes in noise levels related to changes in the volume of flight movements at a city airport in Stockholm, Sweden, by using a choice experiment. When estimating marginal willingness to pay for different times of the day and days of the week, we find that these vary with the temporal dimensions: mornings and evenings have higher marginal values. Interestingly, a substantial proportion of the respondents prefer no changes in the current noise level. The paper concludes with a policy discussion related to incentivebased pricing.
Money and Success –Sibling and Birth-Order Effects on Positional Concerns
(2008-04-18T08:17:35Z) Lampi, Elina; Nordblom, Katarina
Survey data is used to investigate how birth order and having siblings affect positional concerns in terms of success at work and of income. We find that only-children are the most concerned with relative position, but that number of siblings increases the concern among those who grew up together with siblings. Furthermore, people whose parents often compared them with their siblings have stronger positional concerns in general. We find differences depending on whether the issue is relative income or relative successfulness, and that people generally have stronger positional concern in relation to friends, but less so in relation to parents and least in relation to siblings. We also find that younger respondents are far more concerned with relative position than older in all studied situations.
Not for you! The cost of having a foreign-sounding name in the Swedish private housing market
(2019-10) Molla, Hemrin; Rhawi, Caroline; Lampi, Elina; Department of Economics, University of Gothenburg
Both immigration and a troubling housing deficit have increased rapidly in Sweden over the past 20 years. Today, up to 33 percent of the people living in the largest Swedish cities are immigrants. In this Internet-based field experiment, we investigated whether there exists discrimination in the Swedish private rental housing market based on the names of apartment seekers. We used a correspondent test by randomly sending out equivalent applications from four fictitious, highly educated, and seemingly “well-behaved” male applicants in response to a number of randomly selected private housing ads. Each advertiser received applications from two applicants with names signalling Swedish, Arab/Muslim, Eastern European, or East Asian ethnicity. Our results clearly confirm previous findings that persons with a name traditionally associated with the majority group in the respective community receive more call backs than others. When comparing our results with previous discrimination research focusing on Swedish housing market, we find that a man with an Arab/Muslim-sounding name needs to apply for clearly more rental objects in order to get a call back compared with just 10 years ago. Our results strongly indicate that the name of a person matters a great deal when applying for a rental object.