ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory
Belief Elicitation: Limiting Truth Telling with Information on Incentives
Thursday, March 18, 2021 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EDT
Online Location, Zoom Meeting
The ICES Seminar in Experimental Economics and Game Theory of the Spring 2021 semester will feature:
University of Pittsburgh
Belief Elicitation: Limiting Truth Telling with Information on Incentives
Please contact ICES Office Manager (sbahabib@gmu.edu) for Zoom link.
Abstract
We study truth telling within the current state-of-the-art mechanism for belief elicitation and examine how information on incentives affects reports on a known objective prior. We find that transparent information on incentives gives rise to error rates in excess of 40 percent, and that only 15 percent of participants consistently report the truth. False reports are conservative and appear to result from a biased perception of the BSR incentives. While attempts to debias are somewhat successful, the highest degree of truth telling occurs when information on quantitative incentives is withheld. Perversely the mechanism’s incentives are shown to decrease truthful reporting.
For more information about the Seminar Series, please visit the Seminar Schedule homepage.
