MP4 Lab

What do we do?

The MP4I (Management Practices for Innovation) Lab is an observatory dedicated to mapping and studying the evolution of innovative ecosystems.

Its activity is primarily based, though not exclusively, on the collection of primary data through surveys, subsequently integrated with secondary data.

The observatory aims to analyse the relationship between the adoption of managerial practices and strategic decisions oriented towards growth through innovation, with the objective of identifying best practices capable of improving companies’ innovative capabilities, as well as their economic, financial and competitive performance.

Furthermore, it studies the impact of business choices on the Italian economic context in terms of sustainability and explores the effects of such decisions on society, considering aspects such as employment, welfare, demographics and environmental impact.

The results of the observatory’s activities will be disseminated through the publication of periodic reports, the organisation of workshops and an annual conference.

The research center InExEc (Insubria Experimental Economics) focuses on the experimental investigation of economic decisions and behaviors, contributing to the advancement of theoretical analysis of decision-making and to the development of behavioral models useful for informing public policies.

Its objectives are:

• to promote and conduct research activities aimed at analyzing individuals’ economic decisions, with particular attention to contexts characterized by uncertainty and risk. These activities include the development and comparison of theoretical models of choice and economic behavior at the frontier of research in behavioral economics, as well as their empirical validation through laboratory, field, and online experiments, and through survey-based studies. The research lines fall within the fields of behavioral and experimental economics and aim to understand how cognitive, psychological, and social factors – including cognitive biases, decision heuristics, emotions, and social norms – influence individual choices. These activities are part of the broader project of the Department of Economics, funded under the “Departments of Excellence” program, titled “Decisional and behavioral models in a context of uncertainty: Innovation and evolution of economic systems”;
• to promote methodological debate on experimental designs and data collection protocols, also through the organization of seminars (InExEc Meetings) and the discussion of ongoing research, in order to encourage exchange on methodological challenges and best practices in conducting experiments;
• to ensure high quality standards in the research activities carried out within the Center, through ex ante review procedures of experimental protocols entrusted to the Methodological Review Board, composed of one internal member (Prof. Ivan Moscati) and two external members (Prof. Maria Bigoni and Prof. Maria Vittoria Levati);
• to promote scientific collaborations with national and international research institutions and to encourage participation in joint research projects, with the aim of strengthening the Center’s role as a hub of excellence in experimental economics;
• to provide affiliated researchers with qualified support in all phases of experiment implementation, both in terms of human resources and infrastructure.

Attachment: Regolamento Centro di Ricerca “Insubria Experimental Economics” (InExEc)

Scientific Director:
Prof.ssa Astrid Gamba

Deputy Director:
Prof.ssa Regine Oexl

Research

Publications: 

• Astrid Gamba. The Centipede Game. In Bereket Kebede (ed.), Elgar Encyclopedia of Behavioural and Experimental Economics, Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming 2026. ISBN: 9781800881570.
• Luca Congiu, Ivan Moscati (2026). Framing Allais: Is the paradox robust to the pictorial framing of probabilities? Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, forthcoming. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2026.102573
• Jaromír Kovářík, Ibai Martínez-Macías, Luis Miller (2025). Distributive preferences and effort provision: A two-way link? Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 117, 102385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2025.102385
• Ivan Moscati (2025). Psychological narratives in decision theory: What they are and what they are good for. Journal of Economic Methodology, 32: 265–286. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2025.2535365
• Lorenzo Gagliardi, Massimo Rusconi (2025). Investigating conspiracy beliefs: Methodological biases and experimental challenges. Journal of Economic Methodology, 32(3): 149–169. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178X.2025.2539253
• Glenn E. Dutcher, Regine Oexl, Dmitry Ryvkin, Timothy C. Salmon (2025). Do competitive bonuses ruin cooperation in heterogeneous teams? Journal of Economics and Management Strategy, 34(1): 67–101. https://doi.org/1111/jems.12573
• Luca Congiu, Enrico Botta, Mariangela Zoli (2025). Biases and nudges in the circular economy: A review. Ecological Economics, 233: 108579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2025.108579
• Luca Congiu, Ivan Moscati, Matteo Scacchi (2025). Digital nudging and cookie rejection: An experiment. Italian Economic Journal, 11: 431–458. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40797-024-00268-4

Working papers:

• Galmarini Umberto, Astrid Gamba, Ibai Martínez Macías (2026). Moral regulation in sequential decisions. Preprint, SocArXiv.https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/g7tuh_v2
• Ivan Boldyrev, Ivan Moscati, Robert Sugden. Sleeping beauties in economics: Allais, Arrow, and the 75th anniversary of the 1952 Paris conference on risk. https://ssrn.com/abstract=6140731
• Marco Persichina, Luca Congiu. Validation of an integrated scale for measuring pro-environmental behavior and attitudes (PEBAS). https://ssrn.com/abstract=6507078
• Luca Congiu, Manuela Coromaldi, Alessio D’Amato, Loredana Mirra, Andrea Rampa. Understanding Italians’ responses to climate change and climate policy. https://www.sustainability-seeds.org/papers/RePec/srt/wpaper/0426.pdf

Work in progress:

• Ivan Moscati. Monograph: Decision theory: A history of ideas, 1945–2010, under contract with Cambridge University Press and scheduled for publication in 2027.
• Luca Congiu, Luisa Lorè, Mariangela Zoli. Image considerations in second-hand adoption: A vignette experiment.
• Aylin Isik, Alessio D’Amato, Luca Congiu. Heterogeneity in consumer responses to ecolabel substantiation: A choice experiment on bottled water.
• Lorenzo Gagliardi, Astrid Gamba. Conspiracy beliefs and cognitive biases: An experimental exploration.
• Ibai Martínez Macías, Douadia Bougherara, Sophie Thoyer. Risk communication strategies for pest control decisions.
• Alessandro Villa, Luca Congiu. Explaining Allais: Rationalizations of the paradox.
• Luisa Lorè, Luca Congiu, Mariangela Zoli. Environmental costs in second-hand clothing purchase: A voucher choice experiment.
• Astrid Gamba, Elisa Pontivi, Raffaello Seri, Andrea Vezzulli. Intentionally Green: How default design shapes sustainable valuation.
• Anna Rita Bennato, Glenn Dutcher, Regine Oexl. Economic uncertainty and discrimination.
• Anna Rita Bennato, Glenn Dutcher, Regine Oexl. Individual characteristics and group bias.
• Regine Oexl. A first look into multiple discrimination.
• Andrea Leiter-Scheiring, Regine Oexl. Favoritism in amateur judging of world cup telemark races.
• Francesca Gioia, Regine Oexl. Perceived discrimination.
• Luca Congiu, Astrid Gamba, Umberto Galmarini, Ibai Martínez Macías. Behavioral spillovers after (dis)honesty: Evidence from non-strategic decisions.
• Pierpaolo Battigalli, Astrid Gamba, Ibai Martínez Macías. Gender differences in emotional responses within social dilemmas.

InExEc Meetings

The Centerperiodicallyorganizesseminars. To be added to the mailing list, pleasesend an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. To date, the Centerhasorganized the following seminars:

• 14/05/2026. James Tremewan (HSE University): “Social information and the dynamics of norm-related beliefs”
• 16/04/2026. Daniele Nosenzo (Aarhus University): “Law and norms in multicultural societies”
• 12/03/2026. Guilhem Lecouteux (Université Côte d’Azur): “The artificially intelligent paternalist: Does AI respect individuals’ preferences, as judged by themselves?”
• 12/02/2026. Luis Miller (Spanish National Research Council): “Challenging the primacy of partyism: Social norms of in-group favoritism across identity domains”
• 16/01/2026. Elena Manzoni (Università di Bergamo): “Gender bias in punishment: The role of expectations”
• 18/12/2025. Luca Corazzini (Università di Milano-Bicocca): “Seed and grassroots contributions in the MTPG setting”
• 12/11/2025. Edwin Ip (University of Exeter): “The effects of recruitment technology: Lessons from automated interviews?”
• 16/10/2025. Anatole Cheysson (University of Bologna): “Plurilingualism and brain drain: Unexpected consequences of access to foreign tv”
• 26/06/2025. Max Grossmann (University of Cologne): “Knowledge and freedom”
• 22/05/2025. Wiebke Szymczak (Halle Institute for Economic Research): “Strategic discretion and externalities in incentive contracts: Evidence from a cross-country principal-agent experiment”
• 04/03/2025. Essi Kujansuu (University of Innsbruck): “Willingness to pay for the reduction of fatal and nonfatal risks: Comparing traffic accidents and infectious diseases”
• 24/01/2025. Regine Oexl (Università dell’Insubria): “Economic distress and group bias”
• 25/11/2024. Michela Boldrini (Università Bocconi): “Taming tech giants algorithms: What do consumers know (and want)? An analysis of the Amazon buy-box case”
• 24/10/2024. Ibai Martínez Macías (Università dell’Insubria): “Risk communication in digital support tools for pest control decisions”
• 12/07/2024. Alessandro Salis (Università degli Studi di Sassari): “Narratives and cooperative behavior in strategic contexts”
• 31/05/2024. Matteo Scacchi (Università dell’Insubria): “Choosing to be nudged: The effect of beliefs on social norm avoidance. An experiment on charitable giving”
• 19/04/2024. Luca Congiu (Università di Roma Tor Vergata): “Framing Allais: Is the paradox robust to the pictorial framing of lotteries?”
• 15/03/2024. Umberto Galmarini (Università dell’Insubria): “Out of sight, out of mind: Moral accounting, self-image concerns, and information avoidance”
• 15/03/2024. Elisa Pontivi (Università dell’Insubria): “Nudging sustainability: Exploring bioplastic preferences through hypothetical consumer choices”
• 15/03/2024. Sandra Kudzai (Università dell’Insubria): “Eliciting health professionals’ preferences for midwife-led care: Fact or folly?”