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This is actually a pretty good economic analysis that you are projecting you own biases onto. I take it you are not a tipper and disagree with tipping in gener

This is actually a pretty good economic analysis that you are projecting you own biases onto. I take it you are not a tipper and disagree with tipping in general? The article plausibly establishes that tipping is a cultural norm, hence people wish to tip. It establishes a threshold beyond which the rider will manually enter a tip rather than use the menu from statistics from millions of rides. It derives the “arbitrary” $1 amount from the difference in tips once the manual methods are used. I don’t see any methodology issues on the surface.

nostromo 5y ago
I am happy to tip based on social norms, but I despise dark patterns, and that's what's being used here to try and inflate tips. Nobody is rationalizing a larger tip saying, "I will tip more to avoid doing mental math." What is happening is they are busy getting out of a cab and being forced to either spend a minute or two fighting an annoying touch screen to enter the amount they'd like to tip, or to just give in and give 20-30%. Note that suggested tip amounts did not center around the cultural norm of 20%. Instead, that is the lowest suggested tip. This is weaponized behavioral economics put to use, in this case to push up tips.
- kfarr 5y ago
  Exactly this is a UI dark pattern that forces consumers into a specific option, not an economic utopia of helping the working class via social norms The fact this is turned into a paper like this shows the disconnect between reality and economics research. To compare and contrast, I could see a skilled growth product design expert looking at this data and say, despite an existing cultural norms of 15% tipping, through our UX design we have altered behavior away from the norm by making lower tip options difficult and time consuming to choose.
  - wolpoli 5y ago
    > The fact this is turned into a paper like this shows the disconnect between reality and economics research. I am not even sure if this is even an economic paper. After all, Donkor is an assistant professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and not in the economics department.
    - kfarr 5y ago
      Good catch, honestly in that case this seems like great content marketing regardless of validity.
wintermutestwin 5y ago
>tipping is a cultural norm, hence people wish to tip More like feel obliged to tip.
- Ensorceled 5y ago
  Something you "feel obliged to do" is pretty the definition of a cultural norm. People WISH to tip to fulfill the obligation that they feel because of the cultural norm. I LITERALLY wish to tip when I go to restaurant. Some of that is cultural norms, some of it is knowing the wait staff is underpaid, some of it is signalling, etc. That in no way takes away from the fact that I desire to give the tip, it only explains why I feel that way.

nostromo 5y ago

I am happy to tip based on social norms, but I despise dark patterns, and that's what's being used here to try and inflate tips. Nobody is rationalizing a larger tip saying, "I will tip more to avoid doing mental math." What is happening is they are busy getting out of a cab and being forced to either spend a minute or two fighting an annoying touch screen to enter the amount they'd like to tip, or to just give in and give 20-30%. Note that suggested tip amounts did not center around the cultural norm of 20%. Instead, that is the lowest suggested tip. This is weaponized behavioral economics put to use, in this case to push up tips.

kfarr 5y ago
Exactly this is a UI dark pattern that forces consumers into a specific option, not an economic utopia of helping the working class via social norms The fact this is turned into a paper like this shows the disconnect between reality and economics research. To compare and contrast, I could see a skilled growth product design expert looking at this data and say, despite an existing cultural norms of 15% tipping, through our UX design we have altered behavior away from the norm by making lower tip options difficult and time consuming to choose.
- wolpoli 5y ago
  > The fact this is turned into a paper like this shows the disconnect between reality and economics research. I am not even sure if this is even an economic paper. After all, Donkor is an assistant professor of marketing at Stanford Graduate School of Business, and not in the economics department.
  - kfarr 5y ago
    Good catch, honestly in that case this seems like great content marketing regardless of validity.

wintermutestwin 5y ago

>tipping is a cultural norm, hence people wish to tip More like feel obliged to tip.

Ensorceled 5y ago
Something you "feel obliged to do" is pretty the definition of a cultural norm. People WISH to tip to fulfill the obligation that they feel because of the cultural norm. I LITERALLY wish to tip when I go to restaurant. Some of that is cultural norms, some of it is knowing the wait staff is underpaid, some of it is signalling, etc. That in no way takes away from the fact that I desire to give the tip, it only explains why I feel that way.