Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
10437785 | Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization | 2005 | 13 Pages |
Abstract
To learn why WTA regularly exceeds WTP in economic experiments involving inexpensive market goods with ample substitutes, the verbal protocol technique was used in a real cash experiment employing a random price auction. Results suggest that the primary reason for the disparity was subjects' reluctance to suffer a net loss from any transaction, whether purchase or sale, and tendency to consider sale much below assumed market price as a loss. This interpretation indicates a kind of loss aversion, but not the kind envisioned in the endowment effect, which maintains that selling creates a loss and buying creates a gain.
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Economics and Econometrics
Authors
Thomas C. Brown,