Projekty badawcze

Experiments on gender stereotypes at the university

UMO-2019/35/O/HS4/01640 - PRELUDIUM BIS

The pursuit of science (esp. exact sciences) is commonly associated with the male gender. This has negativeconsequences but identifying the bias is hard. People are often unwilling to admit to it, which gives rise to newmethods of detection, e.g. the Implicit Association Test, IAT (Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998). In thisproject we propose two novel ways to uncover implicit gender-science bias. In Study 1, modified versions ofthe “female surgeon riddle” will be used. The participants will be asked questions such as: “A professor ofphysics had a child but was not this child's father. How is it possible?”. Inability to guess that she was themother will be taken as a proxy for stereotyping.In Study 2, they will be asked to translate a short text into Polish, e.g. “The third edition of the bookMathematical Concepts in the Physical Sciences by M. L. Boas provides a comprehensive introduction to thefield of mathematical physics.”. To express it correctly in Polish, the translator has to know that Boas was awoman, something that Google could tell them in less than a second.

Again, failure to check it and translatingas if Boas was a man will be an indicator of a bias. Between-subject treatment manipulations will be conductedin both studies to investigate factors which may help overcome the bias. In particular, we will check if monetaryincentives encourage verifying the stereotypical notion in Study 2.In Studies 3 and 4 we will investigate consequences of the bias.

Studies find that explicit gender discriminationin decisions on hiring, promotion, submissions, grant allocation is weak (Ceci, Ginther, Kahn, & Williams, 2014;Ceci & Williams, 2011), so we will investigate two informal ways in which male academics may be, on average,more supported than their female colleagues. First, “old-boys” networks  may provide more assistance andinformation about opportunities to males (Villanueva-Felez, Woolley, & Cañibano, 2015). In our Study 3,researchers employed at a university department (small enough to know most of their colleagues) will be toldof a one-time opportunity to receive additional research money amounting to 10 thousand PLN. They will beasked to rank a few of their colleagues (excluding themselves) that deserve the grant the most. The votes willbe confidential but not anonymous, which will allow identifying self-sex preference and controlling forpublications records, research interest, co-authoring networks etc. We intend to conduct this study at fourdepartments, contrasting exact sciences with humanities. In each of studies 1-3 we will also measureparticipants’ gender-science bias using both explicit declarations and the IAT.Finally, in Study 4, we will focus on student evaluation of teaching (SET).

Previous studies suggest that it  maybe gender-biased (Mitchell & Martin, 2018) and overall arbitrary, i.e. unrelated to actual effectiveness ofteaching (Uttl, White, & Gonzalez, 2017). Here, we will make use of a natural experiment, focusing on suchSET questions as whether the room was properly equipped for the classes, which have nothing to do withteacher’s performance. Thus, if there is there is any systematic difference for these questions between(randomly assigned) male teachers and female teachers of the same subject, teaching in the same rooms, itwill reveal evaluating students’ gender bias

Economic valuation methods as applied to cultural assets

NAWA BPN/BKK/2021/1/00005/U/00001 - NAWA

The project aims to develop economic valuation methods for use in determining the value of cultural assets. Valuation methods are widely used in many
fields, in environmental and transport economics, but their application in cultural economics is far less common. This project aims to explore the validity and feasibility of using economic valuation methods to determine the value of cultural assets and to propose practical solutions as to how valuation methods can be adapted to serve the effective valuation of
cultural assets.
 

Introducing material flows into macro-evolutionary models: a study of the circular economy

UMO-2019/35/B/HS4/00140 - OPUS

Designing long-term systemic transformation frameworks for regions – Accelerating the shift towards climate neutrality (TRANSFORMER)

1069934 - HORIZON EUROPE

The ambition of the TRANSFORMER project is to design long-term systemic transformation frameworks for regions across Europe in order to accelerate the shift towards climate neutrality. At the onset of the project, a conceptual framework will be developed by mapping, defining, and categorising Transition Super-Labs (TSLs). Actual TSLs will be piloted in four regions: the Ruhr area, DE, Emilia Romagna, IT, Lower Silesia, PL and Western Macedonia, GR. The project will develop a roadmap blueprint, a toolkit (incl. matchmaking mechanisms) and a knowledge hub, on the one hand to support the pilot regions but also to be applied by other regions across Europe. Moreover, an evaluation framework will be developed in order to evaluate the impact of TSLs in the TRANSFORMER pilot regions, as well as the respective tools and structures applied by the pilot regions. Project activities will be accompanied by comprehensive communicate and disseminate activities, providing (intermediate) results of the project and the activities in the pilot TSLs, providing a Hub with information, and offering training and capacity building activities for various target groups and stakeholders. Finally, an Exploitation Plan will be prepared for a long-lasting impact of the project.

New research program devoted to enhancing the validity and robustness of stated preference valuation methods in the face of selected behavioral phenomena and biases

UMO-2018/30/E/HS4/00388 - SONATA BIS

The  project concerns state-of-the-art stated  preference  (SP)  methods  for  modeling  consumers’  preferences  and  the  valuation  of  non-market  goods.  We  will  deal  with  several  issues  related  to  behavioral  anomalies, such  as  “anchoring”,  “fat  tails  problem”,  insufficient  sensitivity  to  scope,  ordering  effects,  etc., which are observed in SP studies despite utilizing the state-of-the-art recommendations for their construction, such  as  making  the  survey  instruments  incentive  compatible.

The aim  of  this  project  is  to  systematically  investigate selected biases and propose new ways to deal with them, thus making SP methods more robust and enhancing their validity.In particular, we intend to investigate the following issues: controlling for experience and information with the good, private or public nature of the good, survey quality-related anomalies (speeding, yeah-saying, attention, cognitive burden), incorrect accounting for preference heterogeneity, attribute non-attendance, non-constant marginal utility  of  money,  using  the  new  joint  discrete-continuous  econometric  models,  experimental  exploration  of  the  drivers  of  anchoring  observed  for  the  monetary  attribute,  combined  stated  and  revealed  preference  data  sources,  and  choice  set  formation. 

Overall,  this  project  constitutes a  research  program  consisting  of  several  components  that  are  contributing  to  the understanding  of  the  behavioral  anomalies  observed in SP studies, and can lead to addressing the problems these anomalies cause for the interpretation of SP results. 

Plans vs. actions -- a theoretical and empirical analysis of outmigration andreturn migration intentions and behavior

UMO-2018/31/D/HS4/01523 - SONATA

The  objective  of  the  study  is  to  broaden  the  knowledge  of  the  relationships  between  migration intentions  and  migration  behavior. 

To  this  end,  an  analytical  framework  of  a  decision  model  which formalizes the effect of the type of migration decision to be made (in particular – outmigration and return migration)  will  be  proposed,  bridging  the  theory  of planned  behavior  with  random  utility  maximization theory. An  additional  goal  is  to  incorporate  novel research  methods  (laboratory  experiment)  and techniques  (Bayesian  estimation,  simulations),  which have  been  applied  successfully  in  decision-making fields  other  than  migration  studies,  to  help  choose the  most  appropriate  framework  for  the  analysis  of migration behavior. The use of an experimental approach will also allow to address another objective – to choose the most appropriate (in terms of accuracy of predicting actual behavior) phrasing for intentions to migrate. 

It is planned to verify three research hypotheses: 1.The  mechanisms  underlying  outmigration  and  return  migration  intentions,  as  well  as  the mechanisms governing the transition from migration intentions to behavior for these two types of mobility,  are  different.  In  particular,  the  chance  that  an  emigrant  fulfills  his/her  intentions  of returning  is  different  than  the  chance  that  a  potential  emigrant  realizes  his/her  intentions  to emigrate, ceteris paribus. 2.The phrasing of the migration intention question determines, to a large extent, the usefulness of the obtained declaration in modeling behavior based on intentions. 3.A  mixed-methods  approach  combining  the  theory  of  planned  behavior  and  random  utility maximization theory fares better in describing the relationship between migration intentions and decisions than either of the theories on its own. 

POLSKIE POWROTY 2019

PPN/PP0/2019/1/ 00043 /U/0001 - NAWA

The aim is to establish a Centre for Labour and Family Dynamics (LABFAM) at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. It is be the first research centre in Europe, which comprehensively addresses the consequences of rapid labour market changes for families (partnership formation and dissolution and fertility) in contemporary post-industrial societies with a focus on Europe.

Family formation and stability are crucial for individual well-being. They also determine the future social, economic and cultural development of a country. Family dynamics is at the same time affected by the continuously changing labour markets.

In LABFAM we study how these changes influence family dynamics and which policies can alleviate their negative consequences and thus improve the well-being of societies. In the first years, we will focus on the profound labour market changes caused by globalisation and digitalisation. We will also monitor the labour market and, with time, expand our research agenda (e.g. to labour market changes caused by climate change).

In addition, LABFAM will aim at:

1) improving availability of data for labour market and family research;

2) educating students;

3) providing evidence-based policy implications.

By concentrating on highly socially relevant and timely topics, which have not yet been addressed, and applying novel methodology (e.g. mixture cure models), we will make important contributions to family research with a potential to be published in high impact international journals. LABFAM will also stimulate scientific exchange in the fields of family and labour market, policy research, migration, globalisation and digitalisation. All in all, LABFAM will greatly contribute to the development of Polish social science and will strengthen the international research position of the WNE UW.

Political polarization and parliamentary voting on economic policies: thecase of Poland 2005-2019

UMO-2020/37/B/HS4/00787 - OPUS

The role of institutions for health, attitudes and behaviours in later life

UMO-2019/33/B/HS4/00387 - OPUS

Between-group cooperation and conflict in contest games

UMO-2018/31/N/HS4/01215 - PRELUDIUM

Recently, there  has been an increasing interest in between-group competition enhancing cooperation within groups.Between-group cooperation has achieved less attention. In this project, I would like examine: (1) under which conditions group will engage in between-group cooperation compared to conflict, and (2) how different voting mechanisms affect groups’ incentives to engage in between-group cooperation andconflict. To achieve these goals, I will build on Abbink et al.(2010) experiment of the contest game. According to this experiment, participants compete to win a contest and receive an exogenousprize (Tullock, 1980).In this project, I will extend the previous experiment in three ways: I will examine groups’ incentives to engage  in  cooperation  over  the  exogenous  prize  with  another  group  instead  of  conflict.  Here,  each  group members will receive a fixed endowment. They will be asked to investtokens in between-group cooperation,   -just  as  in  the  contest  game.

On  the  contrary  to  the  latter,  the  prize  will  be  shared  between  two  groups  in proportion to total investments made by two teams.

In particular, the shareof the prize will be determined by the  sum  of  tokensinvested by  group  membersin  between-group  cooperationdivided  by the  total  sum  of investments  made by both  groups.This  design  ensures  that in cooperationand competitiontreatments,  the expected payoffsin the equilibriumare the same, andthus we should observe similar levels of tokens invested in cooperation andcontest.

Second, I will allow group members to choose whether to engage in conflict or cooperation  with  another  group  in  the cooperation  vs  competitiontreatment.Finally,  I  will examine  how different  mechanisms  of  decision-making within  groups affect  behavior  of  in-group  members  towards outsiders. I will consider: “leading by example”,leadership with group member’s signaling,majority voting and randomly dictator rule.