Risk aversion and implicit shortage cost explain the Anchoring and Insufficient Adjustment bias in human newsvendors

The Anchoring and Insufficient Adjustment (AIA) bias has been observed in many newsvendor experiments, although a mathematical explanation for this behavior has previously eluded researchers. We show here that risk aversion coupled with an implicit shortage cost, both of which are well-known components of newsvendor decisions, comprehensively explains this behavior. We construct combinations of a risk-averse utility function and a shortage cost that explain the results from previously reported newsvendor experiments.