Essays on behavioral economics

In the first chapter, analyzing survey data from the 2006-2012 waves of the US Health and Retirement Study, we explore the factors which influence the relationship between objective and subjective measures of individual status with regard to two key domains: health status and social status. The second chapter illustrates a pen and paper experiment run at a primary school in Italy. We study loss aversion and risk attitude among children when they decide for themselves and for others. The third chapter reports a laboratory experiment on Dictator Game, focusing on the potential role of different kinds of “similarity” in affecting giving choices. We investigate whether subjects’ giving choices are affected by information over the allocation of a similar Dictator in terms of demographic characteristics, hobbies and beliefs.