Vidit Chhajed

Behavioral Economics Case Studies

Vidit Chhajed

I'm a sophomore at Olentangy Orange High School in Lewis Center, OH, teaching myself behavioral economics. I design and run small experiments to see how people actually behave when there's a real choice in front of them, because the gap between what people say they'd do and what they actually do is almost always more interesting than the decision itself.

Each study below comes with the raw data and a downloadable paper. Outside of these, I keep a monthly index of what airline and hotel points are really worth, and compete in Speech & Debate and tennis.

The experiments

Experiment #3

Does where money comes from affect how much of it people are willing to spend?

Both groups had the exact same $90,000, the same income, and the same trip, yet the group shown $10,000 of it as an unexpected tax refund budgeted $4,108 more on average.

October 3, 2026

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Experiment #2

Does the way the same information is framed affect people's reaction to it?

Both pieces of information technically conveyed the exact same thing, yet the group told 164 of 200 succeeded was significantly more willing to consent than the group told 36 of 200 failed.

September 5, 2026

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Experiment #1

Does the asking price anchor what something is worth to you?

A $275 difference in asking price shifted what people called "fair" by $132, without changing a single thing about the product.

June 30, 2026

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