Loss Aversion and Consumption Choice: Theory and Experimental Evidence

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Karle, Heiko; Kirchsteiger, Georg; Peitz, Martin
• 署名单位: Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; ETH Zurich; Universite Libre de Bruxelles; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Mannheim; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Leibniz Association; Zentrum fur Europaische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW)
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MICROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7669
• DOI: 10.1257/mic.20130104
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 101-120
• 关键词: reference-dependent preferences; decision-making; disappointment; RISK; expectations; Consistency; COMPETITION

摘要

We analyze a consumer-choice model with price uncertainty, loss aversion, and expectation-based reference points. The implications of this model are tested in an experiment in which participants have to make a consumption choice between two sandwiches. Participants differ in their reported taste for the two sandwiches and in their degree of loss aversion, which we measure separately. We find that more-loss-averse participants are more likely to opt for the cheaper sandwich, in line with theoretical predictions. The estimates in the model with rational expectations are slightly more significant than those with naive expectations.