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Costly Superstitious Beliefs: Experimental Evidence

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  • Ya’akov M. Bayer, Bradley J. Ruffle, Ze’ev Shtudiner, Ro’i Zultan

    (Wilfrid Laurier University)

Abstract

Expectant parents experience a variety of emotions, including joy, anticipation as well as anxiety and fear related to the health of the fetus, the delivery and the newborn. These sources of uncertainty and stress render expectant mothers suspectible to the influence of popular beliefs. We design an experiment to evaluate the widespread Israeli belief that a baby’s room should remain unfurnished until after the baby is born. We test the impact of this belief on the economic decisions of pregnant Jewish women in Israel. Our findings show that many pregnant women, especially in the second half of pregnancy, prefer to avoid challenging popular beliefs – even at a financial cost. The negative affective consequences of “tempting fate†lead to a preference for a small monetary amount over new furniture for the newborn. The strength of popular beliefs and its influence on individual choice vary in accordance with ethnic origin and degree of religiosity.

Suggested Citation

  • Ya’akov M. Bayer, Bradley J. Ruffle, Ze’ev Shtudiner, Ro’i Zultan, 2018. "Costly Superstitious Beliefs: Experimental Evidence," LCERPA Working Papers 0114, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised 01 Mar 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:wlu:lcerpa:0114
    Note: LCERPA Working Paper No. 2018-8, March 2018.
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    File URL: http://www.lcerpa.org/public/papers/LCERPA_2018_8.pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Invernizzi, Giovanna M. & Miller, Joshua B. & Coen, Tommaso & Dufwenberg, Martin & Oliveira, Luiz Edgard R., 2021. "Tra i Leoni: Revealing the preferences behind a superstition," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Zvi, Liza & Shtudiner, Zeev, 2021. "Resume fraud and counterproductive behavior: The impact of narcissism in the labor market," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    3. Shtudiner, Zeev & Klein, Galit, 2020. "Gender, attractiveness, and judgment of impropriety: The case of accountants," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Bhattacharya, Haimanti & Dugar, Subhasish, 2022. "Business norm versus norm-nudge as a contract-enforcing mechanism: Evidence from a real marketplace," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Zeev Shtudiner, 2020. "Holiday gift-giving - deadweight loss or welfare gain?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 1977-1984.
    6. Israel, Avi & Lahav, Eyal & Ziv, Naomi, 2019. "Stop the music? The effect of music on risky financial decisions: An experimental study," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    7. Zeev Shtudiner & Gilad Tohar & Jeffrey Kantor, 2022. "The effect of identification with a sports team and its performance on the willingness of fans to pay for team products," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 607-615, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    experimental economics; individual choice; pregnancy; popular beliefs; superstition; repugnance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General

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