Looming Large or Seeming Small? Attitudes Towards Losses in a Representative Sample

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chapman, Jonathan; Snowberg, Erik; Wang, Stephanie W.; Camerer, Colin
• 署名单位: University of Bologna; Utah System of Higher Education; University of Utah; National Bureau of Economic Research; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); University of Pittsburgh; California Institute of Technology
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMIC STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6527
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdae093
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: 2893-2922
• 关键词: Loss aversion; prospect-theory; cognitive-ability; risk-aversion; equity premium; BEHAVIOR; DECISION; disappointment; skewness; utility

摘要

We measure individual-level loss aversion using three incentivized, representative surveys of the U.S. population (combined N=3,000). We find that around 50% of the U.S. population is loss tolerant-they are willing to accept negative-expected-value gambles that contain a loss. This is counter to expert predictions and earlier findings-which mostly come from laboratory/student samples-that 70-90% of participants are loss averse. Consistent with the different findings in our study versus the prior literature, loss aversion is more prevalent in people with high cognitive ability. Further, our measure of gain-loss attitudes exhibits similar temporal stability and better predictive power outside our survey than measures of risk aversion. Loss-tolerant individuals are more likely to report recent gambling, investing a higher percentage of their assets in stocks, and experiencing financial shocks. These results support the general hypothesis that individuals value gains and losses differently, and that gain-loss attitudes are an important economic preference. However, the tendency in a large proportion of the population to emphasize gains over losses is an overlooked behavioural phenomenon.