Experts in experiments

Hans-Martin von Gaudecker, Arthur van Soest () and Erik Wengström

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, 2012, vol. 45, issue 2, 159-190

Abstract: An ever increasing number of experiments attempts to elicit risk preferences of a population of interest with the aim of calibrating parameters used in economic models. We are concerned with two types of selection effects, which may affect the external validity of standard experiments: Sampling from a narrowly defined population of students (“experimenter-induced selection”) and self-selection due to non-response or incomplete response of participants in a random sample from a broad population. We find that both types of selection lead to a sample of experts: Participants perform significantly better than the general population, in the sense of fewer violations of revealed preference conditions. Self-selection within a broad population does not seem to matter for average preferences. In contrast, sampling from a student population leads to lower estimates of average risk aversion and loss aversion parameters. Furthermore, it dramatically reduces the amount of heterogeneity in all parameters. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2012

Keywords: Risk aversion; Loss aversion; Internet surveys; Laboratory experiments; C90; D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (37)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Experts in Experiments: How Selection Matters for Estimated Distributions of Risk Preferences (2011)
Working Paper: Selection and Mode Effects in Risk Preference Elicitation Experiments (2008)
Working Paper: Selection and Mode Effects in Risk Preference Elicitation Experiments (2008)
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DOI: 10.1007/s11166-012-9151-7

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