Date/Time
Date(s) - 05/03/2025
11:30 am - 12:30 pm

Alex Ballyk, PhD Candidate from the University of Toronto, will present to our economics graduate students and faculty on Wednesday, March 5 in KTH 334!

Alex’s research focuses on behavioral and experimental economics with a particular interest in studying both paternalistic behaviour and gender differences in beliefs and preferences. She will be presenting the paper “Paternalistic Persuasion“.

Abstract

Paternalistic experts (“Advisors”) often seek to make decision-makers (“Choosers”) better off by recommending ways for them to change their behavior. Choosers, however, are often reluctant to make certain behavioral changes. To successfully persuade a Chooser to change their behavior, an Advisor should therefore account for this reluctance when sending recommendations. In a setting where Choosers are wary of Advisors’ incentives, I experimentally investigate whether Advisors send recommendations that account for this wariness, and why they may fail to do so. I find that nearly 80% of Advisors send sub-optimal recommendations. Most of these Advisors send recommendations that would only be optimal if Choosers were not wary. I show, however, that prompting Advisors to think about Choosers’ likely response to a recommended change is an effective way to correct this mistake. This suggests that the mistake stems from a failure to focus on recommending actions that are both welfare-improving and appealing to Choosers.

View Alex’s professional website.