Paper #467

Título:

An experimental test of loss aversion and scale compatibility

Autores:

Han Bleichrodt y José Luis Pinto

Fecha:

Mayo 2000

Resumen:

This paper studies two important reasons why people violate procedure invariance, loss aversion and scale compatibility. The paper extends previous research on loss aversion and scale compatibility by studying loss aversion and scale compatibility simultaneously, by looking at a new decision domain, medical decision analysis, and by examining the effect of loss aversion and scale compatibility on "well-contemplated preferences." We find significant evidence both of loss aversion and scale compatibility. However, the sizes of the biases due to loss aversion and scale compatibility vary over trade-offs and most participants do not behave consistently according to loss aversion or scale compatibility. In particular, the effect of loss aversion in medical trade-offs decreases with duration. These findings are encouraging for utility measurement and prescriptive decision analysis. There appear to exist decision contexts in which the effects of loss aversion and scale compatibility can be minimized and utilities can be measured that do not suffer from these distorting factors.

Palabras clave:

Decision analysis, utility theory, loss aversion, scale compatibility, health

Códigos JEL:

C91, I10, D81

Área de investigación:

Microeconomía

Número serie CRES:

12

Publicado en:

Journal of Mathematical Psychology, 46, 3, (2002), pp. 315-337
Con el título:
Loss Aversion and Scale Compatibility in Two-Attributive Trade-Offs

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