This study investigates the relationships between social and political trust and views on energy affordability, which are crucial for promoting sustainable energy practices. The findings indicate that social and especially political trust are negatively correlated with perceptions of energy affordability. The study also finds that the probability of being highly concerned about energy affordability is declining in the level of trust, especially in countries, as those in Southern European, that prioritize energy affordability. These findings confirm the critical role of trust in effective energy policies, fostering public support for transitions to sustainable energy systems. The study recommends that policymakers enhance transparency, accountability, and public engagement to build trust, thereby improving perceptions of energy affordability and supporting sustainable energy transitions.

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This paper experimentally investigates the potential existence of dynamically inconsistent individuals in a situation of ambiguity. The experiment involves participants making two sequential decisions concerning the allocation of a sum of money, with an ambiguous move by Nature occurring after first decision, and again after the second. We conducted two between-subject sessions: one incentivised and one unincentivised. By analysing the resulting data, we are able to classify participants into four distinct decision-making types: Myopic, Resolute, Sophisticated and Expected Utility (EU). Our results suggest that a significant proportion of the participants do not exhibit dynamic inconsistency being either Resolute, Sophisticated or EU. We discuss how monetary incentives can change the dynamic consistency of decision-makers and the salience of the Ambiguity. Differently from the incentivised treatment, we detect a slight increase of the proportion of Myopic behaviour in the hypothetical case, suspecting that incentives might affect dynamic consistency. A noteworthy observation is that, in the majority of cases, ambiguity tends to simplify to risk in the absence of monetary incentives. These findings have implications for economic decision-making and policymaking. By identifying the different types of decision-makers and understanding how they make choices, we can develop more effective strategies to promote desirable outcomes.

PurposeExpanding on the real-world financial market framework and considering the current market turmoil, with cryptocurrencies (where contracts for difference (CFDs) are extremely common) (Hasso et al., 2019) displaying unprecedented volatility, the authors aim to test in an online laboratory setting whether displaying a risk warning message is truly effective in reducing the level of risk taken and whether the placement of this method makes a difference.Design/methodology/approachTo explore the impact of risk disclosure framing on risk-taking behavior, the authors conducted an online pair-wise lottery choice experiment. In addition to manipulating risk awareness through the presence or absence of risk warning messages of varying intensity, the authors also considered dynamic inconsistency, cognitive ability and questionnaire-based financial risk tolerance (FRT) scores. The authors aimed to identify potential relationships between these variables and experimentally elicited risk aversion. The authors' study offers valuable insights into the complex nature of risky decision-making and sheds light on the importance of considering dynamic inconsistency in addition to risk awareness and aversion.FindingsThe authors' results provide statistical evidence for the efficacy of informative and very salient messages in mitigating risky decision, hinting at several policy implications. The authors also provide some statistical evidence in support of the relationship between cognitive abilities and risk preferences. The authors detect that individual with low cognitive abilities scores display great risk aversion.Originality/valueThis study investigates the impact of risk warning messages on investment decisions in an online laboratory setting – a unique approach. However, the authors go beyond this and also examine the potential influence of dynamic inconsistency on decision-making, adding further value to the literature on this topic. To ensure a comprehensive understanding of the participants, the authors collect data on cognitive ability and FRT using questionnaires. This study provides a simple and cost-effective framework that can be easily replicated in future research – a valuable contribution to the field.

Purpose The authors believe that comparing individuals to groups' decision making is crucial provided that many important choices in society are made by groups, i.e. committees, governing bodies, juries, business partners and families. This study aims to discuss the aforementioned topic. Design/methodology/approach The authors analyze risky decision making in the context of the television game show Deal or No Deal – Italian edition. Specifically, the authors scrutinize and compare individual (standard “Deal or No Deal” edition) and group (special edition) choices in the risky choice context provided by programe. Findings After analyzing contestant's behavior in the standard edition episodes plus a special edition the authors calculate a risk index observing that no statically significant difference is present between individuals' and groups' actions. Originality/value In the “Deal or No Deal” special edition contestant were groups of two strangers. It is not uncommon to have couples playing on TV, however the individuals usually know each other well and have relationships in real life. The special edition therefore provides a unique setting (absent to best of the authors’ knowledge in the literature) for investigation and could offer real-world insight. Indeed, in many instances the authors have to contract/make decisions with people the authors do not know/know very little (i.e. occasional business partners, representative at other companies/institutions, insurance/finance advisors, new work colleagues, etc.).

This paper investigates the initial market reactions to the February 2022 military escalation. We provide an overview while discriminating for different investment classes, shining light on the intensity of the geopolitical risk and on potential hedging properties of specific assets (such as gold and Bitcoin). Results deliver preliminary evidence supporting a more pronounced effect in the Eurozone and the UK stock markets, while gold and bitcoin showcase their resilience to war-induced negative economic effects. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This work building on well-established economics literature on TV game shows aims, in an innovative manner, to provide further noteworthy insights. We compare individual, group and couple choices in the risky choice context provided by the Italian version of the international TV show “Deal or no Deal”. After analyzing contestant’s behaviour during the standard edition episodes plus two special editions we calculate a risk index showing that couples (affianced couples) display a greater degree of risk aversion while no statically significant difference is present between individuals’ and groups’ actions. This paper could be a starting point for future research investigating the rationale behind such conduct to examine whether such pattern would also be observed in a context different from that of TV game shows (e.g. financial decisions).