
handle: 10230/1084
We test whether risk attitudes change when losses instead of gains are involved. The study of gain-loss asymmetries has been largely confined to reflected choices, where all the money amounts of a positive prospect are multiplied by minus one. We define the decomposition reflection = translation + probability switch, and experimentally find both a translation effect (risk attraction becomes more frequent when gains are translated into losses) and a probability switch effect (risk attraction becomes more frequent when the probability of the best outcome decreases). Surprisingly, the switch effect is somewhat stronger than the translation effect, negating a conventional reflection effect when one starts with choices between gains with a low probability of the best outcome. We conclude by arguing that, while both the translation effect and the switch effect contradict the expected utility hypothesis, the translation effect implies a deeper violation of standard preference theory.
leex, Behavioral and Experimental Economics, reflection effect, Microeconomics, risk aversion, Refflection Effect, Risk Attraction, Risk Aversion, Gains, Losses, experiments, House Money, Paternalistic Welfare Economics, experiments, risk attraction, gains, losses, Reflection effect, risk attraction, risk aversion, gains, losses, experiments, Leex, jel: jel:D81, jel: jel:C91
leex, Behavioral and Experimental Economics, reflection effect, Microeconomics, risk aversion, Refflection Effect, Risk Attraction, Risk Aversion, Gains, Losses, experiments, House Money, Paternalistic Welfare Economics, experiments, risk attraction, gains, losses, Reflection effect, risk attraction, risk aversion, gains, losses, experiments, Leex, jel: jel:D81, jel: jel:C91
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