 Experienced utility versus decision utility: Putting the ‘S’ in satisfactionSteven Carter and Michael McBride () Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2013, vol. 42, issue C, 13-23 Abstract: Recent research distinguishes an individual's decision utility, inferred from her observed choices, from her experienced utility, which more closely matches the notion of happiness. Using various estimation techniques, we test whether post-choice satisfaction (experienced utility), like decision utility in an experimental data set, is S-shaped with loss aversion around a given reference point. We also present a model which estimates the satisfaction function and reference point simultaneously. When pooling the data across individuals, we find an S-shaped satisfaction function in which the reference point depends on past payments, social comparisons, and subjective expectations. There is mixed evidence of loss aversion. At the individual level, there is substantial variation in satisfaction function shapes, although the S-shape is common. Though the two notions of utility are distinct, our findings imply that the two are related at a fundamental level. Keywords: Happiness; Value function; Prospect Theory (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:42:y:2013:i:c:p:13-23 DOI: 10.1016/j.socec.2012.11.009 Access Statistics for this article Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics) is currently edited by Pablo Brañas Garza More articles in Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics) from Elsevier |
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