The effect of priming on fraud: Evidence from a natural field experiment.

We present a natural field experiment to examine if priming can influence behavior in a market for credence goods. 40 testers took 600 taxi journeys in Vienna, Austria, and using a between–subject design we vary the script they spoke, each designed to prime either honesty, dishonesty, or a competito...

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Published in:Economic Inquiry Vol. 60; no. 4; pp. 1854 - 1875
Main Authors: Bindra, Parampreet Christopher, Pearce, Graeme
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Oct2022
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        atl: The effect of priming on fraud: Evidence from a natural field experiment.
      aug:
        au:
          Bindra, Parampreet Christopher
          Pearce, Graeme
        affil:
          Department of Public Economic Theory, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria
          Department of Economics, University of Exeter Business School, Exeter, UK
      su:
        Vienna (Austria)
        Fraud
        Honesty
        Information asymmetry
        Fares
        Taxicabs
      sug:
        subj:
          Fraud
          Honesty
          Information asymmetry
          Vienna (Austria)
          Taxi Service
          Fares
          Taxicabs
      keyword:
        credence goods
        field experiments
        fraud
        priming
        credence goods
        field experiments
        fraud
        priming
      ab: We present a natural field experiment to examine if priming can influence behavior in a market for credence goods. 40 testers took 600 taxi journeys in Vienna, Austria, and using a between–subject design we vary the script they spoke, each designed to prime either honesty, dishonesty, or a competitor. We find that the honesty prime increases taxi fares by 5.5% relative to a baseline, the result of overcharging rather than overtreatment. Priming dishonesty and a competitor have no impact on fares. We find that the effects of priming on behavior are likely to be small compared to information asymmetries.
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    language: English
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