Scholars have argued that anger expressed by participants in mediation is counterproductive; yet, there is also reason to believe that expressions of anger can be productive. The authors tested these competing theories of emotion by using data from online mediation. Results show that expression of anger lowers the resolution rate in mediation and that this effect occurs in part because expressing anger generates an angry response by the other party. However, when respondents are especially vulnerable, expressions of anger by the filer do not hinder settlement. The authors also examined precursors to anger, such as value of dispute and reputation, and the degree to which a focus on dispute resolution is reciprocated. Anger is frequently represented as a barrier to settlement in mediation, hindering conflict management efforts This study extends prior work on anger and disputes in four ways. First, this is the first large-scale quantitative study of emotions that used data from real disputes (rather than simulated negotiations or laboratory interactions), enhancing the real-world applicability of our findings. As Barry, Fulmer, and Van Kleef (in press) pointed out, many experimental studies of emotion can not capture the full range of emotions that come from having real issues at stake. Second, our study considers both the negative effects of anger (the classical view of anger in disputes) as well as some positive effects of anger (a newly emerging view). Third, we were able to examine how preexisting conditions, such as reputation, affect the likelihood that anger will be expressed in the first place. Fourth, given the presence of clearly time-ordered data, we were able to trace the exact steps through which emotions affect resolution in mediation. These results advance our understanding of how emotions and dispute resolution interact and help mediators know when to encourage and when to discourage the expression of negative emotions (although we do not specifically study mediator tactics here).

This paper tests the efficiency of insurance markets in the Pakistan Punjab by examining how crop choices are affected by the presence of price and yield risk. We estimate reduced-form and structural models of crop choices. Although we cannot reject the hypothesis that village members efficiently share risk among themselves, production choices are shown to depend on risk. Existing risk sharing and selfinsurance mechanisms thus imperfectly protect Punjab farmers against village-level shocks. Results also indicate that households respond to consumption price risk, thereby suggesting that empirical and theoretical work on risk should avoid putting an exclusive emphasis on yield and output price risk.

The risk premium and the probability premium are used to determine appro-priate coefficients of absolute risk aversion under CARA utility. A defensible range of risk-aversion coefficients is defined by the coefficients that correspond to risk premiums falling between 1 and 99 % of the amount at risk or to probability premiums falling between.005 and,49 for a lottery that pays or loses a given sum. The consequences of ignoring risk premiums when selecting risk-aversion coefficients for representative decision makers are illustrated by calculation of the implied risk premium associated with the levels of absolute risk aversion assumed in six selected studies. Key words: CARA utility, probability premiums, risk-aversion coefficients, risk premiums.

This paper describes and analyzes the results of a unique field experiment especially designed to test the effects of the level of commitment and information available to individuals when sharing risk. We find that limiting exogenously provided commitment is associated with less risk sharing, while limiting information on defections can be associated with more risk sharing. These results can be understood by distinguishing between intrinsic and extrinsic incentives, and by recognizing that social sanctions are costly to inflict or that individuals suffer from time-inconsistent preferences. Comparing the groups formed within our experiment with the real life risk sharing networks in a few villages allows us to test the external validity of our experiment and suggests that the results are salient to our understanding of risk sharing arrangements observed in developing countries.

The CGIAR Systemwide Program on Collective Action and Property Rights (CAPRi) is an initiative of the 15 centers of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR). The initiative promotes comparative research on the role of property rights and collective action institutions in shaping the efficiency, sustainability, and equity of natural resource systems. CAPRi’s Secretariat is hosted within the Environment and Production Technology Division (EPDT) of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). CAPRi Working Papers contain preliminary material and research results. They are circulated prior to a full peer review to stimulate discussion and critical comment. It is expected that most working papers will eventually be published in some other form and that their content may also be revised

Along with the traditional primitives of economic development (mate-rial preferences, technology, and endowments), there is a growing interest in exploring how psychological and sociological factors (e.g., bounded ra-tionality, norms, or social preferences) also influence economic decisions, the evolution of institutions, and outcomes. Simultaneously, a vast liter-ature has arisen arguing that economic experiments are important tools in identifying and quantifying the role of institutions, social norms and preferences on behavior and outcomes. Reflecting on our experience con-ducting experiments in the field over more than five years, we survey the growing literature at the intersection of these two research areas. Our review has four components. In the introduction we set the stage identi-fying a set of behavioral factors that seem to be central for understanding growth and economic development. We then divide the existing literature in two piles: standard experiments conducted in developing countries, and experiments that have been conducted to answer specific questions about economic development. We then offer methodological advice concerning the design of experiments conducted in the field and on how to economet-rically identify sociological factors in experimental data. We conclude by suggesting topics for future research.

This paper contributes to an important recent debate around expected utility and risk aversion. Rejecting a gamble over a given range of wealth levels imposes a lower bound on risk aversion. Using this lower bound and empirical evidence on the range of the risk aversion coefficient, we calibrate the relationship between risk attitudes over small-stakes and large-stakes gambles. We find that rejecting small gambles is consistent with expected utility, contrary to a recent literature that concludes that expected utility is fundamentally unfit to explain decisions under uncertainty. Paradoxical behavior is only obtained when calibrations are made in a region of the parameter space that is not empirically relevant. JEL Classification: D00, D80, D81.

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We report the results of an experiment designed to measure the impact of different forms of subsidies on the demand for post-secondary education financing among a sample of adults age 18-55 in Canada. The experiment presents subjects with a series of choices involving tradeoffs between cash payments and grants or loans earmarked for full or part time education. In addition, the experiment includes experimental measures of time and risk preferences, as well as an extensive survey of experience and attitudes. This paper focuses on the role of a person’s attitudes toward debt (Debt Aversion) and experience with debt (Debt Use) in the decision to take up financing for post-secondary education in the form of subsidized loans. Using survey measures, we find no evidence that aversion to debt is an important barrier to investment in post-secondary education. In addition, subjects with experience carrying and managing debt are more willing than others to take on additional debt to finance post-secondary education. Key words: field experiment, debt aversion, time preference, risk aversion, human capital investment, post-secondary education

This paper presents an econometric approach to risk attitude estimation that does not require joint estimation of the structure of the firm's technology and input decision rules. The nonstructural approach replaces optimal input choice with the assumption that farmers optimally manage their portfolios of productive activities. By thus shifting the focus from the detailed production decisions of the farm manager to the net returns of the whole farm operation, the modeling problem is simplified. The nonstructural approach is used to estimate risk attitudes in three Indian villages. The results are compared to previous experimental and econometric estimates from the same villages. Key words: econometrics, India, production economics, risk attitudes. Existing econometric methods for estimation of producers ' risk attitudes are based on struc-tural econometric models of the production technology and first-order conditions for op-timal input decisions (Moscardi and de Janvry,