An Evolutionary Perspective on Goal Seeking and Escalation of Commitment

Y. Hamo and A. Heifetz

Working Papers from Tel Aviv

Abstract: Maximizing the probability of bypassing an aspiration level, and taking increasing risks to recover previous losses are well-documented behavioral tendencies. They are compatible with individual utility functions that are S-shaped, as suggested in Prospect Theory (Kahneman and Tversky 1979). We explore evolutionary foundations for such preferences. Idiosyncratic innovative activity, while individually risky, enhances the fitness of society because it provides hedging against aggregate disasters that might occur if everybody had pursued the same course of action.

Keywords: UTILITY FUNCTIONS; RISK; BEHAVIOUR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D80 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2001
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations View citations in EconPapers (1) Track citations by RSS feed

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

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:fth:teavfo:2001-4

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from Tel Aviv Israel TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY, THE FOERDER INSTITUTE FOR ECONOMIC RESEARCH, RAMAT AVIV 69 978 TEL AVIV ISRAEL.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Series data maintained by Thomas Krichel ().