Four essays in experimental and behavioral economics

This thesis is a collection of four research activities carried out during the PhD in the field of experimental and behavioral economics. In Chapter 1, a theoretical modeling of the tendency to self-servingly manipulate beliefs in order to morally justify one's (selfish) preferences regarding income distribution is presented. The theoretical framework is accompanied by an experimental design specifically designed to test the hypotheses derived from the aforementioned model. In Chapter 2, a study is reported regarding the impact of sterilizing an experimental environment from individual mnemonic abilities on the logical consistency of the choices made by the subjects. In Chapter 3, an experiment regarding betrayal aversion is presented, through which, controlling for ambiguity attitudes and ambiguity-neutral beliefs at the individual level, evidence is found in support of the existence of betrayal aversion and its role in determining decisions based on trust. Finally, Chapter 4 presents a research project aimed at investigating the effect of exposure to climate change and associated environmental issues on risk attitude and perception.