The willingness to pay–willingness to accept gap revisited: The role of emotions and moral satisfaction

Anders Biel, Olof Johansson-Stenman () and Andreas Nilsson

Journal of Economic Psychology, 2011, vol. 32, issue 6, 908-917

Abstract: While many earlier studies have found that people’s maximum willingness to pay for having a good is often substantially lower than their minimum willingness to accept not having it, more recent experimental evidence suggests that this discrepancy vanishes for standard consumption goods when an incentive-compatible design without misconceptions is used. This paper hypothesises that there is nevertheless a discrepancy for goods with a perceived moral character, such as contributions to a good cause, and moreover that the reason for this discrepancy can largely be explained by differences in emotions and moral perceptions. The results from a real-money dichotomous-choice experiment, combined with measurements of emotions and morality, are consistent with these hypotheses.

Keywords: Willingness to pay–willingness to accept gap; Endowment effect; Emotions; Ethics; Experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 H41 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Working Paper: The Willingness to Pay-Willingness to Accept Gap Revisited: The Role of Emotions and Moral Satisfaction (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:32:y:2011:i:6:p:908-917

DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2011.07.010

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