“Eliciting Thresholds for Interdependent Behavior,” Nikos Nikiforakis, NYU Abu Dhabi

AMERICAN & COMPARATIVE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR WORKSHOP

Abstract: Threshold models have been widely used to analyze interdependent behavior, yet empirical research identifying people’s thresholds is nonexistent. We introduce an incentivized method for eliciting thresholds and use it to study support for affirmative action in a large, stratified sample of the U.S. population. Most Asian, Black, Hispanic, and White men and women condition their support for affirmative action on the number of others supporting it. In line with preregistered hypotheses, thresholds are influenced by one’s perceived benefits and pressure to conform. We demonstrate how our method can offer unique insights for policy design and enhance understanding of social dynamics.

Nikos Nikiforakis is a Professor of Economics at New York University Abu Dhabi, the Director of the Center for Behavioral Institutional Design (C-BID) and the Co-Director of the Social Science Experimental Laboratory. His research interests include social inequality, social norms, cooperation, and stereotypes, drawing on insights from economics, political science, sociology, and psychology. Nikos’ work has been published in leading economics journals like the American Economic Review, as well as interdisciplinary journals such as Nature Communications and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. He has received funding from institutions such as the National Science Foundation and the Australian Research Council. Nikos was the founding Co-Editor for the Journal of the Economic Science Association and is an Associate Editor for the European Economic Review and the Journal of Economic Psychology. He has advised governmental entities, including the Presidential Court, the Ministry of the Economy, and the Department of Community Development in the United Arab Emirates, and was a member of the Ministerial Advisory Council for Problem Gambling in Australia.

This is a special workshop sponsored by the Identity and Conflict Lab directed by Nicholas Sambanis, the Kalsi Family Professor of Political Science at the The Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International & Area Studies at Yale University.