{"title":"Focal points for giving","authors":"Jeffrey Cross , Guangli Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.joep.2024.102729","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Leveraging the unique context of New York City taxi rides, we estimate that passengers are more likely to tip a suggested amount when presented with an integer tip suggestion, which also corresponds with an increase in average tip rates. We show that these results are not driven by rounding heuristics and are consistent with integers acting as focal points instead of left-digit bias. Focusing on a 2012 rate fare change that increased the probability of integer tip suggestions by 700%, our estimates imply a transfer from riders to drivers of approximately 250,000 dollars in 2013.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48318,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Economic Psychology","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 102729"},"PeriodicalIF":2.5000,"publicationDate":"2024-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Economic Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"96","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167487024000370","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ECONOMICS","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Leveraging the unique context of New York City taxi rides, we estimate that passengers are more likely to tip a suggested amount when presented with an integer tip suggestion, which also corresponds with an increase in average tip rates. We show that these results are not driven by rounding heuristics and are consistent with integers acting as focal points instead of left-digit bias. Focusing on a 2012 rate fare change that increased the probability of integer tip suggestions by 700%, our estimates imply a transfer from riders to drivers of approximately 250,000 dollars in 2013.
期刊介绍:
The Journal aims to present research that will improve understanding of behavioral, in particular psychological, aspects of economic phenomena and processes. The Journal seeks to be a channel for the increased interest in using behavioral science methods for the study of economic behavior, and so to contribute to better solutions of societal problems, by stimulating new approaches and new theorizing about economic affairs. Economic psychology as a discipline studies the psychological mechanisms that underlie economic behavior. It deals with preferences, judgments, choices, economic interaction, and factors influencing these, as well as the consequences of judgements and decisions for economic processes and phenomena. This includes the impact of economic institutions upon human behavior and well-being. Studies in economic psychology may relate to different levels of aggregation, from the household and the individual consumer to the macro level of whole nations. Economic behavior in connection with inflation, unemployment, taxation, economic development, as well as consumer information and economic behavior in the market place are thus among the fields of interest. The journal also encourages submissions dealing with social interaction in economic contexts, like bargaining, negotiation, or group decision-making. The Journal of Economic Psychology contains: (a) novel reports of empirical (including: experimental) research on economic behavior; (b) replications studies; (c) assessments of the state of the art in economic psychology; (d) articles providing a theoretical perspective or a frame of reference for the study of economic behavior; (e) articles explaining the implications of theoretical developments for practical applications; (f) book reviews; (g) announcements of meetings, conferences and seminars.