Publications

Digital game-based learning (GBL) is attracting attention in economics education, as this type of learning allows abstract content to be simulated through play. However, a systematic review of its effects is still lacking. This paper synthesizes the empirical evidence by addressing the following two questions: (1) What are the effects of GBL in economics education compared to those of other media? (2) Which features of GBL are important for learning? Intervention studies (k = 20, 2011-2021) that focus on upper secondary and higher education are analyzed. The findings identify advantages of GBL concerning subject knowledge. However, the findings related to fostering motivation are inconsistent. Moreover, students’ performance expectations are found to promote learning engagement. Thus, GBL is suitable if the target group can recognize the content-related benefit, and if the content is designed to be challenging.

This paper examines pricing efficiency of cryptocurrencies and some traditional assets measuring the level of market efficiency with Adjusted Market Inefficiency Measure. The patterns of several cryptocurrencies’ price dynamics over the last 4 years are compared with those of traditional assets. Correlation and mutual information matrices for AMIM are obtained using different estimation intervals. The results across different time scales are tested for noise using permutation entropy technique, empirical estimations are represented in statistical complexity plane to show the structure of efficiency links. Usage of AMIM in short window estimation is justified. Efficiency levels seem to be closely connected if judged from the standpoint of information theory at all time frames. Efficiency linkages become more linear at larger analysis periods. Cryptocurrencies seem to be more closely connected to equities, especially S&P500. Bursts of inefficiency on cryptocurrencies markets spread to equity markets and are possibly mediated in bank system. Commodities seem to be more independently priced.

Belief elicitation is important in many different fields of economic research. We show that how a researcher elicits such beliefs – in particular, whether the belief is about the participant’s opponent, an unrelated other, or the population of others – strongly affects the belief reports. We study the underlying processes and find a clear consensus effect. Yet, when matching the opponent’s action would lead to a low payoff and the researcher asks for the belief about this opponent, ex-post rationalization kicks in and beliefs are re-adjusted again. Hence, we recommend to ask about unrelated others or about the population in such cases, as ‘opponent beliefs’ are even more detached from the beliefs participants had when deciding about their actions in the corresponding game. We find no evidence of wishful thinking in any of the treatments.

In many countries, the current vaccination rates are stagnating, to the extent that vaccine hesitancy—the delay or refusal to take recommended vaccinations—forms a major obstacle to ending the COVID-19 pandemic. This tendency is particularly concerning when observed among healthcare workers who are opinion leaders on medical matters for their patients and peers. Our study surveys 965 employees of two large Swiss hospitals and profiles vaccine-hesitant hospital employees using not only socio-demographic characteristics, but also a comprehensive set of standard behavioral preference measures: (i) Big-5 personality traits, (ii) risk-, time- and social preferences, and (iii) perceived prevailing social norms. Using multinomial probit models and linear probability models, we find that vaccine-hesitant hospital employees are less patient and less likely to perceive vaccination as the prevailing social norm—in addition to replicating previously published socio-demographic results. Our findings are robust to a range of model specifications, as well as individual and situational covariates. Our study thus offers actionable policy implications for tailoring public-health communications to vaccine-hesitant hospital employees.

We collect data on the careers of 189 authors who published aid effectiveness estimates during the 1970 to 2011 period, and apply meta-regression analysis to investigate the impact of authors' careers on the degree of selectivity in which results are reported. Among non-tenured researchers, publication selection bias and research inflation are increasing with age, on average. This bias is highest among older non-tenured researchers. In search for channels, we find suggestive evidence that a portion of the preferential reporting in favour of aid effectiveness is associated with non-tenured authors’ links with aid agencies.

This study investigates how the talent management (TM) practices of talent attraction, development, and retention contribute to organizational ambidexterity (OA) and firm performance in the context of Russia. Based on a cross-sectional data set of 88 local Russian firms, we investigate the association between the TM practices and OA dimensions and examine the role of exploration and exploitation in the TM–performance relationship. The ordinary least squares regression results show that the effects of talent attraction on exploration, talent development on exploitation, and talent retention on both OA dimensions are significant and positive. Meanwhile, the simple and parallel mediation analyses (using the Hayes' PROCESS program) demonstrate that OA, particularly exploration, mediates the TM–performance relationship. This study contributes to the overall literature on TM and ambidexterity by considering TM practices as crucial antecedents of OA and explaining how and why TM positively affect firm performance.