Research

  • "Strategic Information Suppression in Borrowing and Pre-Lending Cognition: Theory and Evidence" with Xiaojian Zhao, Games (Special Issue on Economics of Motivated Beliefs), 2023, 14(3), 43.

  • [1] "Managing Screen Time: Feedback and (Soft-)Commitment" with Erte Xiao, Jane Zhang and Xiaojian Zhao

    Abstract: Managing screen time appears to be a pressing issue in our digital age. The paper studies how heterogeneous individuals in terms of self-control and self-awareness respond to information feedback and engage with soft commitment APPs, influencing their screen time usage. In a field experiment involving 1186 participants, we find an asymmetric effect of feedback on self-control: individuals underestimating their screen time usage significantly reduce their usage after feedback, unlike those overestimating usage. However, we find no clear effect of the commitment on altering screen time usage. We also provide a procrastination model with diversely naive individuals, largely accounting for our experimental observations.

    [2] "Fear on the Plank? Virtual but more Real!" with Wei Huang, Paul McIntosh, Irwyn Shepherd and Xiaojian Zhao

    Abstract: This paper uses virtual reality (VR) technology to conduct a fully controlled economic experiment of human decisions such as risk-taking behaviours associated with life and death that could be difficult to achieve in both the standard fields and laboratories. In our experiment, participants virtually stand on the roof of a hundred-storey building. They need to build a plank bridge to reach a monetary reward suspended from a drone on the other side, and then walk through the plank to grab the reward, facing a probability of falling virtually. The planks vary in width and price, with wider planks offering greater security at a higher cost. We compare risk attitudes in VR to those revealed through existing methods such as (context-free) multiple price list, hypothetical questions, etc, and point out limitations of traditional risk preference elicitation methodologies used in economic experiments.

    [3] "Biophysiological Markers of Rule-Following Behaviour: Insights from a Virtual Reality Traffic Light Task" with Lars Kooijman, Kristian Rotaru and Erte Xiao

  • 2023: The Chinese University of Hong Kong

    2023: Monash University

  • 2023: Conference of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET)

    2023: 16th Australia and New Zealand Workshop on Experimental Economics (ANZWEE)

    2023: Monash Business School Workshop to Further Interdisciplinary Research

    2023: 5th MBBL Symposium on Judgement and Decision-Making in the Virtual and Real Worlds

    2024: Foundations of Utility and Risk (FUR)

    2024: 7th World Congress of the Game Theory Society (GAMES)

    2024: 17th Australia and New Zealand Workshop on Experimental Economics (ANZWEE)

    2024: Monash Business School HDR Symposium on Making Real-World Impact