On the Measurement of Strength of Preference in Units of Money

We report an experimental study that aims to elicit monetary measures of strength of preference in choices involving pairs of risky prospects. Despite extensive testing to refine the instruments used, we find that these money measures are systematically biased upwards relative to subsequent binary choices. We discuss possible reasons for this bias and its broader implications.

[1]  Alexander Schwartz,et al.  Decision Analysis And Behavioral Research , 2016 .

[2]  J. Knetsch The Endowment Effect and Evidence of Nonreversible Indifference Curves. , 1989 .

[3]  Andrea Isoni,et al.  Beyond choice: investigating the sensitivity and validity of measures of strength of preference , 2014 .

[4]  Christian Seidl,et al.  Preference Reversal , 2002 .

[5]  L. Festinger,et al.  A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance , 2017 .

[6]  J. Hey,et al.  INVESTIGATING GENERALIZATIONS OF EXPECTED UTILITY THEORY USING EXPERIMENTAL DATA , 1994, Experiments in Economics.

[7]  Ben Greiner,et al.  The Online Recruitment System ORSEE 2.0 - A Guide for the Organization of Experiments in Economics , 2004 .

[8]  B. Mellers,et al.  Similarity and Choice , 2004 .

[9]  Pavlo R. Blavatskyy,et al.  Models of Stochastic Choice and Decision Theories: Why Both are Important for Analyzing Decisions , 2008 .

[10]  Robin P. Cubitt,et al.  Experimental Economics: Rethinking the Rules , 2009 .

[11]  A. Tversky,et al.  Contingent weighting in judgment and choice , 1988 .

[12]  M. Degroot,et al.  Measuring utility by a single-response sequential method. , 1964, Behavioral science.

[13]  R. Thaler Toward a positive theory of consumer choice , 1980 .

[14]  Peter C. Fishburn,et al.  Utility and subjective probability , 1994 .

[15]  Post-decision consolidation and distortion of facts , 2009 .

[16]  V. Smith,et al.  Experimental tests of the endowment effect , 1996 .

[17]  N. Wilcox Stochastic models for binary discrete choice under risk: a critical primer and econometric comparison , 2008 .

[18]  Ralph L. Keeney,et al.  Book Reviews : Scientific Opportunities and Public Needs: Improv ing Priority Setting and Public Input at the National Institutes of Health. Institute of Medicine. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 1998, 136 pages, $26.00 , 1998 .

[19]  M. Birnbaum,et al.  Evidence against Rank-Dependent Utility Theories: Tests of Cumulative Independence, Interval Independence, Stochastic Dominance, and Transitivity. , 1999, Organizational behavior and human decision processes.

[20]  D. Kahneman,et al.  Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem , 1990, Journal of Political Economy.