title: The referendum incentive compatibility hypothesis: Some new results using information messages

authors: Stefani, Gianluca

subjects: contingent valuation

abstract: We report results from a laboratory experiment that allows us to test the incentive compatibility hypothesis of hypothetical referenda used in CV studies through the public or private provision of information messages. One of the main methodological issues about hypothetical markets regards whether people behave differently when bidding for a public good through casting a ballot vote than when they are privately purchasing an equivalent good. This study tried to address the core of this issue by using a good that can be traded both as private and public: information messages. This allows the elimination of confounding effects associated with the specific good employed. In our case information dispels some of the uncertainty about a potential gain from a gamble. So, the approximate value of the message can be inferred once the individual measure of risk aversion is known. Decision tasks are then framed in a systematic manner according to the hypothetical vs real nature of the decision and the public vs private nature of the message. A sample of 536 university students across three countries (I, UK and NZ) participated into this lab experiment. The chosen countries reflect diversity in exposure to the practice of advisory (NZ) and abrogative (Italy) referenda, with the UK not having any exposure to it. Under private provision the results show that the fraction of participants unwilling to buy information is slightly higher in the real treatment than in the hypothetical one. Under public provision, instead, there is no statistical difference between real and hypothetical settings, confirming in part the finding of previous researchers. A verbal protocol analysis of the thought processes during choice highlights that public provision of information systematically triggers concerns and motivations different from those arising under the private provision setting. These findings suggest that the incentive compatibility of public referenda is likely to rely more on affective and psychological factors than on the strategic behaviour assumptions theorised by economists.

text: The referendum incentive compatibility hypothesis: Some new results using information messages We report results from a laboratory experiment that allows us to test the incentive compatibility hypothesis of hypothetical referenda used in CV studies through the public or private provision of information messages. One of the main methodological issues about hypothetical markets regards whether people behave differently when bidding for a public good through casting a ballot vote than when they are privately purchasing an equivalent good. This study tried to address the core of this issue by using a good that can be traded both as private and public: information messages. This allows the elimination of confounding effects associated with the specific good employed. In our case information dispels some of the uncertainty about a potential gain from a gamble. So, the approximate value of the message can be inferred once the individual measure of risk aversion is known. Decision tasks are then framed in a systematic manner according to the hypothetical vs real nature of the decision and the public vs private nature of the message. A sample of 536 university students across three countries (I, UK and NZ) participated into this lab experiment. The chosen countries reflect diversity in exposure to the practice of advisory (NZ) and abrogative (Italy) referenda, with the UK not having any exposure to it. Under private provision the results show that the fraction of participants unwilling to buy information is slightly higher in the real treatment than in the hypothetical one. Under public provision, instead, there is no statistical difference between real and hypothetical settings, confirming in part the finding of previous researchers. A verbal protocol analysis of the thought processes during choice highlights that public provision of information systematically triggers concerns and motivations different from those arising under the private provision setting. These findings suggest that the incentive compatibility of public referenda is likely to rely more on affective and psychological factors than on the strategic behaviour assumptions theorised by economists.

year: 2007-06

title: Undergraduate linguistics and human research ethics

authors: Barbour, Julie Renee

abstract: For students of linguistics at the University of Waikato, in Aotearoa/New Zealand, human research ethics has been something of a mystery. Delayed until graduate study, allocated to a generic Research Methods class, or even encountered for the first time in the preparation of an application for Human Research Ethics approval, ethics has been viewed as a separable module of learning, closely tied to graduate study, but less relevant to our undergraduate students. In this paper, the argument is put forward that ethical learning can and should be incorporated into the undergraduate linguistics curriculum. Two sets of ethical principles that could inform such a curriculum are presented, followed by the description of a pedagogic strategy that can be used to ensure that students graduating with a linguistics degree take with them an understanding of ethical considerations relevant to their discipline.

text: Undergraduate linguistics and human research ethics For students of linguistics at the University of Waikato, in Aotearoa/New Zealand, human research ethics has been something of a mystery. Delayed until graduate study, allocated to a generic Research Methods class, or even encountered for the first time in the preparation of an application for Human Research Ethics approval, ethics has been viewed as a separable module of learning, closely tied to graduate study, but less relevant to our undergraduate students. In this paper, the argument is put forward that ethical learning can and should be incorporated into the undergraduate linguistics curriculum. Two sets of ethical principles that could inform such a curriculum are presented, followed by the description of a pedagogic strategy that can be used to ensure that students graduating with a linguistics degree take with them an understanding of ethical considerations relevant to their discipline.

year: 2016

title: Handbook of indigenous peoples' rights [Book review]

authors: Te Aho, Linda

abstract: This article reviews the book “Handbook of indigenous peoples' rights”, edited by Corinne Lennox and Damien

text: Handbook of indigenous peoples' rights [Book review] This article reviews the book “Handbook of indigenous peoples' rights”, edited by Corinne Lennox and Damien

year: 2016