Preference elicitation under oath

Abstract

Eliciting sincere preferences for non-market goods remains a challenge due to the discrepency between hypothetical and real behavior and false zeros. The gap arises because people either overstate hypothetical values or understate real commitments or a combination of both. Herein we examine whether the traditional real-world institution of the solemn oath can improve preference elicitation. Applying the social psychology theory on the oath as a truth-telling-commitment device, we ask our bidders to swear on their honour to give honest answers prior to participating in an incentive-compatible second-price auction. The oath is an ancillary mechanism to commit bidders to bid sincerely in a second-price auction. Results from our induced valuation testbed treatments suggest the oath-only auctions outperform all our other auctions (real and hypothetical). In our homegrown valuation treatments eliciting preferences for dolphin protection, the oath-only design induced people to treat as binding both their experimental budget constraint (i.e., lower values on the high end of the value distribution) and participation constraint (i.e., positive values in place of the zero bids used to opt-out of auction). Based on companion treatments, we show the oath works through an increase in the willingness to tell the truth, due to a strengthening of the intrinsic motivation to do so.

Are Ex‐Ante Hypothetical Bias Calibration Methods Context Dependent? Evidence from Online Food Shoppers in China

“…This argument is based on evidence from social psychology that tests the effect of making a promise (Albarracín et al ; Durantini et al ; Girandola and Bernard ). Recent studies have investigated the effect of an oath script in environmental studies (Carlsson et al ; Jacquemet et al , , ) and food surveys (de‐Magistris and Pascucci ). Jacquemet et al () suggest that under oath, bidders seem to take both the budget constraint and participation constraint more seriously than with a cheap‐talk script.…”

“…Other studies have assessed the effects of combining and comparing various techniques to reduce hypothetical bias. Jacquemet et al () evaluated the effect of cheap talk and oath and concluded that the two are complementary—cheap talk overcomes a bidder's lack of experience with the good, which makes some people think that they are telling the truth when in actuality they are not. But it is the oath, not cheap‐talk scripts, that increases the odds of truth‐telling.…”

Neural Activity Reveals Preferences without Choices

“… 2 Specific approaches include the use of (1) certainty scales as in Champ et al, (1997), (2) entreaties to behave as if the decisions were real as in the “cheap-talk” protocol of Cummings and Taylor, 1999, or more recently the “solemn oath” protocol of Jacquemet et al, 2012), and (3) “dissonance-minimizing” protocols (as in Blamey et al, 1999, and Loomis et al, 1999, which allow respondents to express support for a public good while also indicating a low WTP). …”

Testing the effectiveness of the oath script in reducing the hypothetical bias in the Contingent Valuation Method

“…Do you understand what I am talking about? We want you to behave, in the Jacquemet et al (2009Jacquemet et al ( , 2013. In fact, before responding to the CV questions, each respondent was first asked to sign a truth-telling oath.…”

“…Given the non-conclusive results on the effectiveness of the CT in mitigating vhypothetical bias, Jacquemet et al (2011Jacquemet et al ( , 2013 proposed the use of another ex-ante non-monetary correction technique taken from the social psychology and called the "solemn oath". They argued that the solemn oath can be used as a truthtelling commitment device, by asking the bidders to swear on their honor to give honest answers prior to participating in a non-hypothetical experimental setting (i.e.…”