Passive Choices and Cognitive Spillovers

Arbeitspapier

Passive behavior is ubiquitous - even when facing various alternatives to choose from, people commonly fail to take decisions. This paper provides evidence on the cognitive foundations of such "passive choices" and studies implications for policies that encourage active decision-making. In an experiment designed to study passive behavior, we document three main results. First, we demonstrate that scarcity of cognitive resources leads to passive behavior. Second, policies that encourage active choice succeed in reducing passivity and improve decisions in the targeted domain. Third, however, these benefits of choice-promoting policies come at the cost of negative cognitive spillovers to other domains.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 12337

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making‡ ; Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles ; Microeconomic Policy: Formulation, Implementation, and Evaluation ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
• Subject: passivity ; cognitive resources ; scarcity ; spillover effects ; active decision-making ; default options

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Altmann, Steffen ; Grunewald, Andreas ; Radbruch, Jonas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/202683
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET