Do economics students behave more selfishly than other students? Experimental game studies suggest so. This article investigates whether economics students' more selfish behavior is attributable to them being less concerned with fairness, having a different notion of fairness, or being more skeptical about other players' behavior. Students from various disciplines played a third-party punishment game and commented on the reasons for their choices. Economics students were about equally likely to mention fairness in their comments and had a similar notion of what was fair in the game; however, they expected lower offers, made lower offers, and were less likely to pay to veto low offers. The economics students' lower expectations mediated their decisions, suggesting that they behaved more selfishly because they expected others to make more selfish decisions.
International climate cooperation needs to be negotiated among sovereign countries. The key to cooperation, and to countervail free riding, is reciprocity. Using game theory and a human subject experiment, we show that reciprocity can be built into the negotiation design. Human players negotiating a reciprocal common commitment are substantially more successful in promoting cooperation than when negotiating individual commitments. Moreover, focusing on a uniform common commitment strongly facilitates agreement, as compared to negotiating a vector of commitments, one for each player. Because a carbon price is a natural candidate for a uniform common commitment, our findings suggest that international climate negotiations should focus on reciprocal carbon pricing. Economists advocate carbon pricing for its cost efficiency, yet the role of carbon pricing for promoting cooperation could be at least as important.
The nuclear phasing out and promoted energy turnaround (Energiewende) could constitute a major driver for renewable energy projects. Increasing the share of renewable energy is seen as indispensable to solve the energy supply dilemma. This new orientation faces various challenges not only on a technical, but also on a political level. We argue that the governmental decision as such does not automatically induce energy turnaround. In order to make change happen, renewable energy projects and innovative policy instruments enhancing them have to be accepted and realized at the regional and local level. Economists typically argue that incentive based instruments (e.g., green taxes) linked to regulatory measures are most effective to limit energy use and to promote renewable energies (Thalmann 2004). But this type of proposals is particularly difficult to implement, given that political and institutional aspects (e.g., attitudes of political actors and voters, existing regulations on various levels especially regarding the grid) create "lock-in" situations that hinder the diffusion of renewable energy (Stadelmann-Steffen 2011; Knill & Lenschow 2005). Several regional and local initiatives explicitly promoting renewable energies have failed making for instance the typical dilemma between renewables and environmental protection evident. The overarching question arises as to how effective policy change towards renewable energy can be achieved. In this vein, we start with the idea that effective policy change leading to the realization of regional and local renewable energy projects can be determined by assessing different aspects of "social acceptance" (Wüstenhagen et al. 2007). We argue that – besides technology acceptance by the market – the acceptance of policies and instrument mixes is a crucial pre-condition for project success. So we concentrate on the acceptance of policies and instrument mixes (e.g., regulatory and incentive measures) by (1) the political elite involved in energy policy decision-making (socio-political acceptance) and by (2) citizens as expressed through their vote or other political intervention (community acceptance). Empirically, and via a comparative case study, social network analysis, and experimental survey design, we assess the promotion of alternative electricity from renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal and small scale hydro power) and ask: 1. Where, when and why have renewable electricity projects failed or succeeded in the past? 2. What current policy drivers (e.g., public attention, actors' networks, pressure from landscape protection) impact the socio-political acceptance of innovative instrument mixes on the regional and local level? 3. How to conceive prospective policy designs and instrument mixes that enhance community acceptance and citizen's preferences in favor of regional and local renewable electricity projects?
The nuclear phasing out and promoted energy turnaround (Energiewende) could constitute a major driver for renewable energy projects. Increasing the share of renewable energy is seen as indispensable to solve the energy supply dilemma. This new orientation faces various challenges not only on a technical, but also on a political level. We argue that the governmental decision as such does not automatically induce energy turnaround. In order to make change happen, renewable energy projects and innovative policy instruments enhancing them have to be accepted and realized at the regional and local level. Economists typically argue that incentive based instruments (e.g., green taxes) linked to regulatory measures are most effective to limit energy use and to promote renewable energies (Thalmann 2004). But this type of proposals is particularly difficult to implement, given that political and institutional aspects (e.g., attitudes of political actors and voters, existing regulations on various levels especially regarding the grid) create "lock-in" situations that hinder the diffusion of renewable energy (Stadelmann-Steffen 2011; Knill & Lenschow 2005). Several regional and local initiatives explicitly promoting renewable energies have failed making for instance the typical dilemma between renewables and environmental protection evident. The overarching question arises as to how effective policy change towards renewable energy can be achieved. In this vein, we start with the idea that effective policy change leading to the realization of regional and local renewable energy projects can be determined by assessing different aspects of "social acceptance" (Wüstenhagen et al. 2007). We argue that – besides technology acceptance by the market – the acceptance of policies and instrument mixes is a crucial pre-condition for project success. So we concentrate on the acceptance of policies and instrument mixes (e.g., regulatory and incentive measures) by (1) the political elite involved in energy policy decision-making (socio-political acceptance) and by (2) citizens as expressed through their vote or other political intervention (community acceptance). Empirically, and via a comparative case study, social network analysis, and experimental survey design, we assess the promotion of alternative electricity from renewable sources (solar, wind, geothermal and small scale hydro power) and ask: 1. Where, when and why have renewable electricity projects failed or succeeded in the past? 2. What current policy drivers (e.g., public attention, actors' networks, pressure from landscape protection) impact the socio-political acceptance of innovative instrument mixes on the regional and local level? 3. How to conceive prospective policy designs and instrument mixes that enhance community acceptance and citizen's preferences in favor of regional and local renewable electricity projects?
