Debiasing on a roll: changing gambling behavior through experiential learning

Martin Abel, Shawn Cole and Bilal Zia

No 7195, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This paper tests experiential learning as a debiasing tool against gambling and lottery behavior in South Africa. The study implemented a simple, interactive dice game that simulates worsening winning odds of rolling sixes as more dice are added to the game. The analysis exploits two levels of exogenous variation, first from random assignment into the debiasing game, and second from the number of rolls it takes to obtain the sixes. Treated individuals who needed above-median number of rolls to obtain simultaneous sixes are significantly less likely than the control group to gamble or play the lottery in the following year. The converse is true for individuals who needed below-median number of rolls, suggesting a perverse treatment effect among this group. The analysis also finds suggestive evidence that the debiasing affected the sensitivity to varying winning odds. Changes in entertainment utility or risk preferences cannot explain these findings, rather the results are consistent with changes in risk beliefs.

Keywords: Financial Literacy; Educational Sciences; Knowledge for Development; Access&Equity in Basic Education; Economic Theory&Research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-02-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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