Leif Helland

Heggedal, Tom-Reiel & Helland, Leif (2014)

Platform selection in the lab

Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 99, s. 168- 177. Doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2013.12.004

Helland, Leif & Monkerud, Lars Christian (2013)

Electoral agency in the lab: Learning to throw out the rascals

Journal of Theoretical Politics, 25(2), s. 214- 233. Doi: 10.1177/0951629812460120

Helland, Leif; Hovi, Jon & Monkerud, Lars Christian (2012)

Can exit prizes induce lame ducks to shirk less? Experimental evidence

European Journal of Government and Economics, 1(2), s. 106- 125.

Elected representatives serving their final period face only weak incentives to provide costly effort. However, overlapping generations (OLG) models suggest that exit prizes sustained by trigger strategies can induce representatives in their final period to provide such effort. We evaluate this hypothesis using a simple OLG public good experiment, the central treatment being whether exit prizes are permitted. We find that a significantly higher number of subjects in their final period contribute when exit prizes are permitted. However, this result does not originate from use of trigger strategies. More likely explanations include gift-exchange and focal-point effects.

Helland, Leif & Sørensen, Rune Jørgen (2012)

Persistent rent extraction

Public Choice, 153(1-2), s. 205- 213. Doi: 10.1007/s11127-011-9785-z

Jacobsen, Karin Johanne; Eika, Kari, Helland, Leif, Lind, Jo Thori & Nyborg, Karine (2011)

Are nurses more altruistic than real estate brokers?

Journal of Economic Psychology, 32(5), s. 818- 831. Doi: 10.1016/j.joep.2011.07.003

Helland, Leif (2011)

Partisan conflicts and parliamentary dominance: the Norwegian political business cycle

Public Choice, 147(1-2), s. 139- 154. Doi: 10.1007/s11127-010-9608-7

Helland, Leif; Sørensen, Rune J. & Thorkildsen, Åge (2010)

Forsvaret 1986-2005. Hvorfor partiene favoriserer de overrepresenterte valgdistriktene

Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, s. 525- 548.

Helland, Leif (2010)

"... so that you never need to ask your question again"

Homo Oeconomicus, 27(3), s. 350- 54.

Helland, Leif & Hovi, Jon (2010)

Non-instrumental behavior in an environmental public goods game

Homo Oeconomicus, 27(3), s. 241- 262.

This paper reports a puzzling result from an experiment based on an indefinitely repeated N -player Prisoners’ Dilemma game carried out in a PC lab. The experiment used real monetary payoffs, and was conducted in the context of international cooperation to curb climate change. It was puzzling that after the experiment, a large majority of subjects reported they were at least partially motivated out of concern for the climate; however, nothing they did in the experiment could possibly have had an impact on the climate. We show that subjects acting out of concern for the climate incurred a real cost in monetary terms, and argue that many subjects’ behavior in the experiment deviated quite fundamentally from instrumental rationality. Although much recent research on public goods provision questions the traditional assumption that players are purely self-regarding, the assumption of instrumental rationality is typically preserved. The results reported in this paper go some way towards challenging the validity of this assumption.

Helland, Leif & Sørensen, Rune J. (2009)

Hvorfor overlever politisk korrupsjon i representative demokratier?

Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift, 25(3), s. 219- 236.

Helland, Leif & Sørensen, Rune J. (2009)

Geographical redistribution with disproportional representation: a politico-economic model of Norwegian road projects

Public Choice, 139(1-2), s. 5- 19. Doi: 10.1007/s11127-008-9373-z

Helland, Leif & Hovi, Jon (2008)

Renegotiation proofness and climate agreements some experimental evidence

Nordic Journal of Political Economy, 34, s. 1- 26.

Helland, Leif & Hovi, Jon (2008)

Renegotiation-profness and Climate Agreements: Experimental Evidence

Nordic Journal of Political Economy, 34(2), s. 1- 26.

Helland, Leif & Monkerud, Lars C. (2008)

Bare psykologi likevel? Et eksperiment i sekvensielle forhandlinger

Tidsskrift for samfunnsforskning, 49(2), s. 209- 224.

Helland, Leif (2008)

Lobbying with conflicting interests: Norwegian local-central relations

European Journal of Political Research, 47(2), s. 184- 205. Doi: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2007.00725.x

Helland, Leif & Sørensen, Rune J. (2008)

Demokrati og effektivitet

Universitetsforlaget.

Helland, Leif (2006)

Om full pensjonsreform tjener flertallet, vil den da bli vedtatt?

Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift, s. 142- 158.

Helland, Leif (2005)

The median voter theorem. Why parties and decisions converge towards the center

Larsen, Stein Ugelvik (red.). Stein Ugelvik Larsen (ed.), Theory and Methods in Political Science

Helland, Leif (2004)

Minority-Rule Budgeting under a De Facto Constructive Vote of No Confidence: A Cure for the Norwegian Illness?

Scandinavian Political Studies, 27(4), s. 391- 401.

Helland, Leif & Saglie, Jo (2003)

Candidate competition and strategic coordination: evidence from four early Norwegian elections

Electoral Studies, 22(4), s. 581- 602. Doi: 10.1016/S0261-3794(03)00027-1

This article investigates strategic coordination in four elections to the Norwegian Storting (1909–18). The elections were held under a majority-plurality dual-ballot system, with unrestricted participation in the second-ballot. The focus is on elections with Conservative, Liberal and Labour candidates as main contenders. Supported by historical and theoretical arguments, the authors assume universally sincere voting in the first-ballot. Given this assumption, second-ballot elections can be analyzed as regular plurality elections. Hypotheses about behavior are formed using the game theoretic framework of Myerson and Weber (American Political Science Review 87 (1993) 102–114). It is found that while voters follow the predictions of theory fairly closely, the extent of coordination present at the candidate level can be questioned.

Helland, Leif & Saglie, Jo (1999)

Kandidatkonkurranse og strategisk koordinering i fire stortingsvalg: 1909-1918

Norsk Statsvitenskapelig Tidsskrift, 15(2), s. 155- 183.

To vanlige tanker om restriktive valgsystemer er at: 1) Velgerne vil forlate høyt rangerte kandidater som forventes å være sjanseløse til fordel for lavere rangerte kandidater med vinnersjanser. 2) Kandidater som forventer å bli forlatt av velgerne selv vil trekke sitt kandidatur. I artikkelen konfronteres disse tankene (i presisert form) med data fra fire stortingsvalg i perioden 1909-1918. Konfrontasjonen viser at den første tanken har mer for seg enn den andre. Vi spekulerer over noen mulige årsaker til dette.

Helland, Leif; Hovi, Jon & Monkerud, Lars Christian (2009)

Can contingent prizes induce lame ducks to shirk less? Experimental evidence

[Academic lecture]. ECPR 2009.

Helland, Leif & Monkerud, Lars Christian (2008)

Electoral agency in the lab

[Academic lecture]. 3rd Nordic Conference on Behavioral and Experimental Economics.

Helland, Leif & Hovi, Jon (2004)

Non Instrumental Behavior in a Public Goods Game: Experimental Evidence

[Academic lecture]. IMA (Institute of Mathematics and its Applications) Conference on Conflict and its Resolutions.