Applied Microeconomics
Applied Microeconomics
The Applied Microeconomics research group unites researchers working on a broad array of topics within such areas as labour economics, economics of education, health economics, family economics, urban economics, environmental economics, and the economics of science and innovation. The group operates in close collaboration with the CAGE Research Centre.
The group participates in the CAGE seminar on Applied Economics, which runs weekly on Tuesdays at 2:15pm. Students and faculty members of the group present their ongoing work in two brown bag seminars, held weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1pm. Students, in collaboration with faculty members, also organise a bi-weekly reading group in applied econometrics on Thursdays at 1pm. The group organises numerous events throughout the year, including the Research Away Day and several thematic workshops.
Our activities
Work in Progress seminars
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1-2pm
Students and faculty members of the group present their work in progress in two brown bag seminars. See below for a detailed scheduled of speakers.
Applied Econometrics reading group
Thursdays (bi-weekly) 1-2pm
Organised by students in collaboration with faculty members. See the Events calendar below for further details
People
Academics
Academics associated with the Applied Microeconomics Group are:
Research Students
Events
Applied Economics, Econometrics & Public Policy (CAGE) Seminar - Johannes Abeler (Oxford)
Title : Bounded Rationality, Complexity and Optimal Incentives (joint with David Huffman and Collin Raymond)
The abstract is:
This paper provides empirical support for the importance of contract complexity, and heterogeneity in worker bounded rationality, for understanding optimal incentives. Specifically, the paper shows that an important aspect of a workplace incentive scheme – dynamic incentives in the form of the so-called ratchet effect – can be a shrouded attribute that some workers neglect due to complexity. In field experiments within a firm, and in online experiments with real effort tasks, many workers make choices consistent with being unaware of dynamic incentives. Changing the contract to make the dynamic incentives more transparent, or looking at the sub-sample of workers with high cognitive ability, a response to dynamic incentives emerges. The results have several implications: a potential optimal degree of complexity; heterogeneous effects of incentives depending on worker cognitive ability; framing and structure of incentives may matter through the channel of complexity; incentive effects may change over time if learning reduces complexity; firms may want to tailor incentives to the cognitive sophistication of their particular workforce.