A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Do non-choice data reveal economic preferences? Evidence from biometric data and compensation-scheme choice
Authors: Halko Marja-Liisa, Lappalainen Olli, Sääksvuori Lauri
Publisher: Elsevier
Publication year: 2021
Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Journal name in source: Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Volume: 188
First page : 87
Last page: 104
ISSN: 0167-2681
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2021.04.009
Self-archived copy’s web address: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/66458171
We investigate the feasibility of inferring economic choices from simple biometric non-choice data. We employ a machine learning approach to assess whether biometric data acquired during sleep, naturally occurring daily chores and participation in an experiment can reveal preferences for competitive and team-based compensation schemes. We find that biometric data acquired using wearable devices enable equally accurate out-of-sample prediction for compensation-scheme choice as gender and performance. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of inferring economic choices from simple biometric data without observing past decisions. However, we find that biometric data recorded in naturally occurring environments during daily chores and sleep add little value to out-of-sample predictions.
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