Opportunity cost neglect: a meta-analysis

Allegra Maguire, Emil Persson and Gustav Tinghög
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Allegra Maguire: Linköping University

Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2023, vol. 9, issue 2, No 2, 176-192

Abstract: Abstract In a seminal paper, Frederick et al. (J Consum Res 36:553–561, 2009) showed that people’s willingness to purchase a consumer good declined dramatically when opportunity costs were made more salient (Cohen’s d = 0.45–0.85). This finding suggests that people normally do not pay sufficient attention to opportunity costs and as a result make poorer and less efficient decisions, both in private and public domains. To critically assess the strength of opportunity cost neglect, we carried out a systematic review and a meta-analysis including published and non-published experimental work. In total, 39 experimental studies were included in the meta-analysis (N = 14,005). The analysis shows a robust significant effect (Cohen’s d = 0.22; p

Keywords: Opportunity cost; Opportunity cost neglect; Behavioural economics; Systematic review; Meta-analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C9 D10 D91 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s40881-023-00134-6

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