A Structural Analysis of Disappointment Aversion in a Real Effort Competition

David Gill and Victoria Prowse

American Economic Review, 2012, vol. 102, issue 1, 469-503

Abstract: We develop a novel computerized real effort task, based on moving sliders across a screen, to test experimentally whether agents are disappointment averse when they compete in a real effort sequential-move tournament. We predict that a disappointment averse agent, who is loss averse around her endogenous choice-acclimating expectations-based reference point, responds negatively to her rival's effort. We find significant evidence for this discouragement effect, and use the Method of Simulated Moments to estimate the strength of disappointment aversion on average and the heterogeneity in disappointment aversion across the population. (JEL C91, D12, D81, D84)

Date: 2012
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Related works:
Working Paper: A Structural Analysis of Disappointment Aversion in a Real Effort Competition (2011)
Working Paper: A Structural Analysis of Disappointment Aversion in a Real Effort Competition (2009)
Working Paper: A Structural Analysis of Disappointment Aversion in a Real Effort Competition (2009)
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