Recovering the Anchoring of Economic Valuations

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Guo, Liang
• 署名单位: City University of Hong Kong
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20200320
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 192-228
• 关键词: rational inattention; revealed preference; CONSTRUCTION; Robustness; JUDGMENT; utility

摘要

We revisit the interpretation of the anchoring effect as evidence for nonexisting or arbitrary preferences. A theory of endogenous information acquisition ( i.e. , deliberation) is developed to rationalize the causal dependence of economic valuations on arbitrary anchor numbers. We identify theory-driven moderators to reconcile seemingly discrepant findings among original and follow-up anchoring experiments. We demonstrate in a meta-analysis that the anchoring effect may be systematically moderated by unintended experimental/individual differences. Moreover, apparent replication failure of the anchoring effect may be a false negative for self-countervailing treatment effects, because an anchoring treatment may cast opposite effects on different subjects within an experiment.