Unraveling Ambiguity Aversion

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Aydogan, Ilke; Berger, Loic; Bosetti, Valentina
• 署名单位: IESEG School of Management; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite de Lille; CNRS - Institute for Humanities & Social Sciences (INSHS); Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC); Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici (CMCC); Bocconi University
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0034-6535
• DOI: 10.1162/rest_a_01358
• 发表日期: 2026
• 关键词: Ellsberg paradox; rich domain; uncertainty; Heterogeneity; rationality; preferences; decisions; field; RISK

摘要

We report the results of two experiments designed to better understand the mechanisms driving decision making under ambiguity. We elicit individual preferences over different sources of uncertainty, entailing different degrees of complexity, from subjects with different sophistication levels. We show that (1) ambiguity aversion is robust to sophistication, but the strong relationship previously reported between attitudes toward ambiguity and compound risk is not and (2) Ellsberg ambiguity attitude can be partly explained by attitudes toward complexity for less sophisticated subjects only. Overall, regardless of the subject's sophistication level, the main driver of Ellsberg ambiguity attitude is a specific treatment of unknown probabilities.