Generating ambiguity in the laboratory

Jack Stecher, Timothy Shields and John Dickhaut

Working Papers from Chapman University, Economic Science Institute

Abstract: This article develops a method for drawing samples from which it is impossible to infer any quantile or moment of the underlying distribution. The method provides researchers with a way to give subjects the experience of ambiguity. In any experiment, learning the distribution from experience is impossible for the subjects, essentially because it is impossible for the experimenter. We describe our method mathematically, illustrate it in simulations, and then test it in a laboratory experiment. Our technique does not withhold sampling information, does not assume that the subject is incapable of making statistical inferences, is replicable across experiments, and requires no special apparatus. We compare our method to the techniques used in related experiments that attempt to produce an ambiguous experience for the subjects.

Keywords: ambiguity; Ellsberg; Knightian uncertainty; laboratory experiments; ignorance; vagueness JEL Classi cations: C90; C91; C92; D80; D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 44 pages
Date: 2008
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-exp and nep-upt
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://www.chapman.edu/ESI/wp/AmbiguityWP0410.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Generating Ambiguity in the Laboratory (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:chu:wpaper:08-10

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