Events

We study the effect of incentives on different dimensions of creative work. To do so, we introduce a novel real-effort task that allows us to measure quantity, usability, and novelty of individuals’ creative output. In three treatments, we introduce incentives either for quantity alone or for quantity in combination with usability or novelty. We compare performance in these treatments to a baseline with fixed incentives. We find that incentivizing quantity alone or quantity in combination with novelty results in an increase in quantity and novelty and a decrease in the average quality compared to the baseline. Combined incentives for quality and quantity do not have a significant effect on any of the dimensions of creativity. Our findings are in line with a multi-tasking model where agents choose an optimal allocation of effort between quantity and usability and novelty is negatively correlated to quality. (Authors: Katharina Laske/Marina Schröder)

This paper focuses on the validation of data obtained from Google Trends as a measure of brand strength. We focus on brands of car manufacturers and types and show that searches on Google Trends predict registrations of cars in long panels. We use data for Germany and for the United Kingdom. To deal with endogeneity we make use of the introduction of scrappage subsidies in 2008/2009 as a natural experiment. We identify and address challenges from non-stationarity and serial correlation in the data. (Authors: Georg von Graevenitz/Christian Helmers)

Using panel data for 36,652 research articles published by authors from 798 institutions in 5 countries (Bolivia, Ecuador, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru), we analyze the role of access to academic works in developing countries. A focus will be drawn to the impact of a recent initiative (OARE) that seeks to provide research institutions in developing countries with free or reduced fee access to scientific literature in the field of environmental science. We use bibliometric data from Web of Science and institutions’ OARE registration data provided by the World Health Organization. We find a positive treatment effect, revealing that OARE institutions publish more as compared to non-OARE institutions. Most interestingly, we find that registration to OARE has increased competition between researchers within and between countries in different regions in the developing world. In particular, our evidence reveals a crowding-out effect for researchers from non-member institutions. (Authors: Frank Mueller-Langer/Marc Scheufen/Patrick Waelbroeck)

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