崔学刚, Nick Feltovich, Kun Zhang,“Incentive schemes, framing, and market behaviour: Evidence from an asset-market experiment”,
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization(ABS 3),Available online 7 March 2022,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.03.007
Abstract:We investigate how asset prices and trading behaviour are impacted by the structure and framing of incentives, using a lab experiment. Subjects buy and sell a high-risk asset, a low-risk asset, and riskless cash over 10 rounds. We vary, between-subjects, the incentive scheme (relative versus absolute performance), and how the variable component of incentives is framed (bonus versus penalty), while holding constant the convexity of incentives. Both relative-performance (tournament) incentives and penalty framing are associated with signifificant increases in the price of the high-risk asset, relative to either its fundamental value or to the price of the low-risk asset. Additional analysis shows signififi- cant gender differences in trading behaviour and performance, and evidence that the two may be connected.