Kenju Akai

Trust and Reciprocity among International Groups: Experimental Evidence from Austria and Japan

This paper explores national identity in trust and reciprocity at the intra- and international levels by adopting a modified trust game played among groups from Austria and Japan, wherein subjects play the roles of trustor and trustee consecutively without any information feedback. Although the intranational trust levels in both countries are identical, the international trust for Japanese groups is less than that of Austrian groups. On the other hand, the international reciprocity for Japanese groups is greater than that of Austrian groups. Additionally, the Japanese reciprocation level toward Austrians is higher than that toward Japanese.

Do Consumers Select Food Products Based on Carbon Dioxide Emissions

This study investigates whether consumers select foods based on the levels of carbon dioxide emissions by a real choice experiment. Respondents are asked to purchase one orange based on price and level of CO2 emissions under no monetary incentives. The willingness to pay estimate for the reduction of 1g of CO2 emissions per orange is significantly lower for the low environmentally conscious group than it is for the high environmentally conscious group.

Does the Carbon Footprint Enhance the Sustainability Food Production and Transportation Service System? Real Buying Experiment in Japan

To examine whether the carbon footprint induce the sustainability local food production and service system, this study investigate the relationship between consumers’ environmental consciousness and willingness to pay for carbon dioxide emissions on food products by using a choice experiment under the real buying experiment. The results show that consumers with higher environmental consciousness value the higher WTP for the reduction of carbon dioxides.

Modeling and Multi-agent Simulation of Bicycle Sharing

Bicycle sharing services are bicycle rental services which are widely introduced in large cities in Europe, America, and Asia. They differ from ordinary bicycle rental systems in that users are able to rent and return from any station which offers bicycles. This study modeled bicycle sharing services using agent-based modeling and calculated the Nash equilibrium with game theoretic approach. The equilibrium states were shown to depend on the condition such as user’s payoff and cost parameters. The study was developed further by multi-agent simulation using Q learning, constructing several scenarios. The results reproduced the problem which can be found in real bicycle sharing services, the problem where bicycles gather at the bottom of a hill. A reward system for users to take bicycles up the hill was introduced into the simulation, and the best level of reward was found.

An Apology for Lying

We investigate what types of social factors affect apology behavior for a previous lie and credibility levels for that apology. We abruptly provide subjects an opportunity to send an apology message after completion of the deception game (Gneezy, 2005) and investigate the effects of three main variables: burden of guilt based on the difference of stakes to be earned from lying and those from telling the truth (large vs. small), socio-economic background (students vs. non-students), and social distance (anonymity vs. face-to-face). The results show that none of these variables affect lying behavior. Students trust their counterparts less than non-students. After the deception game, students are less likely to send the message of having told a lie than non-students, but neither the burden of guilt nor social distance affects the motivation for sending such a message. Students give lower credibility levels to the additional messages sent after the deception game than non-students. Lifting anonymity raises credibility levels. The most powerful variables to affect apology behavior and credibility levels are subjects own previous decisions: whether to lie or not and whether to trust or not. That is, liars are more likely to send the message of having told a lie or keep silent than honest subjects, and trustors grant higher credibility than non-trustors.This study investigated lying behavior and the behavior of people who are deceived by using a deception game (Gneezy, 2005) in both anonymity and face-to-face treatments. Subjects consist of students and non-students (citizens) to investigate whether lying behavior is depended on socioeconomic backgrounds. To explore how liars feel about lying, we give senders a chance to confess their behaviors to their counter partner for the guilty aversion of lying. The following results are obtained: i) a frequency of lying behavior for students is significantly higher than that for non-students at a payoff in the anonymity treatment, but that is not significantly difference between the anonymity and face-to-face treatments; ii) lying behavior is not influenced by gender; iii) a frequency of confession is higher in the face-to-face treatment than in the anonymity treatment; and iv) the receivers who are deceived are more likely to believe a sender’s message to be true in the anonymity treatment. This study implies that the existence of the partner prompts liars to confess their behavior because they may feel remorse or guilt.

Auctions with Endogenous Price Ceiling: Theoretical and Experimental Results

This paper analyzes an auction mechanism that excludes overoptimistic bidders inspired by the rules of the procurement auctions adopted by several Japanese local governments. Our theoretical and experimental results suggest that the endogenous exclusion rule reduces the probability of suffering a monetary loss induced by winning the auction, and also mitigates the problem of the winners curse in the laboratory. However, this protection comes at the price of a lower revenue for the seller.

Service Satisfaction and Consciousness-Attitude Gap for Foreign Tourists Visiting Japan

This study investigates the service satisfaction and consciousness-attitude gap of foreigners visiting Japan with the aim of finding methods of increasing visitors’ levels of expenditure. Structural equation modeling is employed to investigate the relationships between service quality, service value, customer satisfaction, loyalty, and willingness to pay. The results show that lodging, food and drink, and shopping services all have an influence on loyalty. Shopping services also have a significant influence on willingness to pay. More than half of the tourists maintain expenditure gap, as their actual spending is less than their expected budgets. Although they have a higher willingness to pay in relation to food and drink services, these services do not provide more satisfaction and loyalty than other services.

Dispersed Energy Storage and Its Effect on Market Efficiency in Electricity Trading with Distributed Power Resources: An Experimental Economics Study

Electric power systems in the world are undergoing a structural reform. An electricity trading market that is consisted of distributed energy resources such as renewable power generators and bidirectional transmission networks is one idea regarding the future form of electricity market. This study models the electricity market in a way where each player takes both roles of supplier and consumer, power generation capacity is distributed, energy storage is partially installed, and transactions are made by a double auction mechanism. An analysis conducted by the method of laboratory economic experiment focuses on the relationship between various conditions of energy storage distribution among the players and the level of market efficiency. The result is that energy storage has both positive and negative impacts on the market: it reduces the amount of wasted energy and attains the efficient allocation of energy, but on the other hand it has a potential to make the market unstable.

An Economic Lab Experiment for the Best Offer and Approval in Face-to-Face Service Interaction Situation.

This article investigates what types of social distance affect the best offer from an employee and its approval from a customer in general service situation. We conduct the deception game (Gneezy, 2005) and investigate the effects of the social distance (face-to-face vs. anonymous interaction) in a laboratory experimental economics method. We observed increases in the rate at which employees made best offers and the rates at which customers accepted offers when face-to-face interactions were conducted. But a statistically significant difference was not observed. Also, the level of trust in others reported by the subject playing the role of the employee had a statistically significant positive effect in cases in which the employee made a best offer. It was also observed that, regardless of whether the interaction was conducted face to face or anonymously, if the subject playing the role of the customer exhibited a low level of tolerance for falsehood, he or she was less likely to accept offers.

The Value of Community for Resolving Social Isolation

This study investigates the value of belonging to community for resolving social isolation problem. To examine this purpose, we employ the choice experiment used to estimate the willingness to pay for services and conduct it in internet survey. The estimation results show that the isolation group more prefers relationship with neighborhoods to that with relative and anonymity than non-isolation group does.