A Quantitative Measurement of Regret Theory

Han Bleichrodt, Alessandra Cillo and Enrico Diecidue ()
Additional contact information
Enrico Diecidue: Decision Sciences Area, INSEAD, 77305 Fontainebleau Cedex, France

Management Science, 2010, vol. 56, issue 1, 161-175

Abstract: This paper introduces a method to measure regret theory, a popular theory of decision under uncertainty. Regret theory allows for violations of transitivity, and it may seem paradoxical to quantitatively measure an intransitive theory. We adopt the trade-off method and show that it is robust to violations of transitivity. Our method makes no assumptions about the shape of the functions reflecting utility and regret. It can be performed at the individual level, taking account of preference heterogeneity. Our data support the main assumption of regret theory, that people are disproportionately averse to large regrets, even when event-splitting effects are controlled for. The findings are robust: similar results were obtained in two measurements using different stimuli. The data support the reliability of the trade-off method: its measurements could be replicated using different stimuli and were not susceptible to strategic responding.

Keywords: regret theory; utility measurement; decision under uncertainty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (74)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1090.1097 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:56:y:2010:i:1:p:161-175

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Management Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().