Felipe A. Araujo, PhD

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I'm an Assistant Professor of Economics at the College of Business at Lehigh University. I do research on Behavioral and Labor Economics using both experimental and observational data.

CURRICULUM VITAE

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RESEARCH

Publications

Working Papers

Work in Progress

Publications

"Unawareness and risk taking: The role of context” (with Evan Piermont). Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 208, 61-79. 2023.

Abstract

"A Reference-Dependent Regret Theory” (with Yuval Erez, and Pengfei Zhang). Decision, 9(1), 1-20. 2022.

Abstract

"The Times They Are A-Changing: Experimenting with Dynamic Adverse Selection” (with Stephanie W. Wang, and Alistair J. Wilson). American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 13(4): 1-22, 2021.

Abstract

"The slider task: An example of restricted inference on incentive effects” (with Erin Carbone, Lynn Conell-Price, Marli W. Dunietz, Ania Jaroszewicz, Rachel Landsman, Diego Lamé, Lise Vesterlund, Stephanie W. Wang, and Alistair J. Wilson). Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2(1): 1-12, 2016.

Abstract

Working Papers

"Limits on Regret as a Tool for Incentive Design" (w/ Alex Imas and Alistair Wilson ). [Online Appendix]. Conditionally accepted at Journal of Political Economy: Microeconomics.

Abstract

"On-the-Job Experience on Behavioral Biases: Evidence from Base-Rate Neglect" (w/ Chris F. Chabris and Michelle N. Meyer ). [Online Appendix]. Revise & Resubmit at Management Science
*Updated Version*

Abstract
Abstract
We study the effect of on-the-job experience on base-rate neglect, which is a common bias in assessing conditional probabilities. We do so by carrying out experiments with medical professionals, who are routinely exposed to conditional-probability problems in the form of diagnostic tests, and non-medical professionals, who are not. As such, medical workers with more years of experience will have had more exposure to base-rate type problems than non-medical workers with similar years of experience. We estimate the effect of on-the-job experience by comparing the answers of more or less experienced professionals in both the medical and non-medical domains. Though the incidence of the bias is high for both groups and all levels of experience, we find that more experienced medical workers (a) have lower rates of perfect base-rate neglect (i.e. completely ignoring the base rates), (b) provide more accurate posterior estimates, and (c) adjust their estimates more in response to changes in the base rates. We observe no such difference for non-medical workers. We conclude that on-the-job experience mitigates, but does not eliminate, base-rate neglect.

"Paying by waiting in line: Public sector queuing and the public sector wage gap" (w/ Hugo Jales and Andrew Smith).

Abstract
Abstract
We show that public sector jobs in Brazil are characterized by price and quantity controls in the form of wages larger than those of private sector counterparts but with a limited number of employment contracts (analogous to a quota). Entrance to public sector jobs is decided according to the results of a double-blinded admission exam. The resulting combination prevents the usual price mechanism from equating the value of supplying labor to private or public sector jobs. We show that the equilibrium mechanism operates through increases in the candidate-to-vacancy ratios that reduce the likelihood of success at any attempt to access a public sector job. In our empirical analysis, we look at exams administered between 2007 and 2017. We show that the value of time spent waiting is quite close to and sometimes even larger than the average gain, dissipating most, if not all, rents that would otherwise be generated by the public wage premium.

"Selection Bias and the Returns to Public-Sector Employment"

Abstract
Abstract
Wages in the public sector might respond to political, rather than market, forces, resulting in persistent differences relative to the private sector. Economists have long been interested in studying public-private wage gaps, as the presence of a gap could redirect resources in ways that have major impacts for the economy. This paper studies the public-private wage gap while controlling for selection bias, which has been the main empirical challenge in this literature. I focus on the Brazilian labor market, where workers can only obtain a government job by securing a sufficiently high score in public-sector exams. I construct a novel dataset with over 2 million individuals that took an exam at least once. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design exploring discontinuities around the approval cutoffs, I find a large and significant public-sector wage premium. The estimated coefficients are almost twice as large as OLS coefficients, resulting from a negative selection bias term. Finally, a survey experiment with Brazilian undergraduates show that students who prefer to work in the public sector expect a positive and large public-private wage gap, while those not interested in the public sector expect a (small) negative wage gap. The survey results lend support to an interpretation of negative selection on unobserved ability or productivity.

Media: InfoMoney (Brazil)

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Work in Progress

"On Gender Differences in Responsiveness to Experimental Conditions" (with Lise Vesterlund and Neeraja Gupta)

"Label Uncertainty and Socially Responsible Market Behavior: An Experiment" (with James A. Dearden and Ernest K. Lai). [In the lab]

"Measuring the Returns to Targeted Nudges with Machine Learning and a Natural Field Experiment" (with Carlos Fernández-Loría, David Hagmann and Nina Mazar). [Field experiment completed]

"MGuideline Adherence and the Psychology of Physician Decision-Making" (with Chris F. Chabris, Michelle N. Meyer and Vini Singh). [Data gathering]

“Laws of Large Numbers and Risk Preferences” (with Alistair J. Wilson and Alex Imas)

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São Paulo, Brazil, the capital of my home state.

TEACHING

Lehigh University

Statistical Methods

Fall 2020, Syllabus

Spring 2021, Syllabus

Spring 2022, Syllabus

Spring 2023, Syllabus

Behavioral Economics

Summer 2021, Syllabus

Fall 2021, Syllabus

Summer 2022, Syllabus

Spring 2023, Syllabus

Fall 2023, Syllabus

University of Pittsburgh

Game Theory Principles

Summer 2016, Syllabus

Summer 2017, Syllabus

CONTACT

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