Essays on third-party communication
Information is usually provided by third parties and the decision makers need to assess the
trustworthiness of the source and decide whether to act upon it. The topic proposes to use laboratory
and field experiments to investigate behavioral responses to third-party communication. Potential
research questions include i) the effect of third-party on strategic uncertainty in coordination games,
ii) erosion of trust due to misinformation provided by third-party, iii) the effect of third-party
information on voting or health behavior. The student will have access to the infrastructure of Masaryk
University Experimental Economics Laboratory.
Essays on conflicts and contests
An important strand of economic literature investigates conflicts and contests among individuals or
groups (political conflicts, competition between firms, team performance etc.). The topic proposes to
study several possible research directions in this field. Topics such as endogenous formation of
coalitions in group contests, conflict mediation or effect of fake news belong among potential research
questions. The research method involves laboratory experiments. The student will have access to the
infrastructure of Masaryk University Experimental Economics Laboratory. Part of the research can be
funded through ongoing GACR project.
Essays on procedural preferences
Different institutions and procedures are used to allocate payoffs among individuals. Recent economic
research shows that individuals value institutions and procedures for their intrinsic value, i.e., they
reveal preferences for procedural properties such as decision autonomy that are unrelated to payoffs
or outcomes. An important dimension of procedural preferences seems to be the perception of
responsibility (or merit). The topic proposes to design experiments that elicit procedural preferences
in different contexts and test the conjecture that people prefer procedures that undervalue the payoffs
of those who are responsible for harm and overvalue payoffs of meritorious individuals. The research
method involves laboratory experiments. The student will have access to the infrastructure of Masaryk
University Experimental Economics Laboratory.
Nudging experiment in health economics
A crucial problem in health economics and health policy is patients’ low investment in preventive
health care. Present-bias preferences and limited information have frequently been put forth as a
theoretical explanation for this. The topic proposes to conduct a field experiment testing different
advertising strategies to increase demand for preventive health care. The advertising strategies include
monetary payments, information provision or different framing of the advertising statement. The
research method is field experiment. The research is a part of a submitted Exceles research project
and can be funded from the research scheme.