Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2-2016

Abstract

A tenet of behavioral economics is that biases are systematic and should have visible effects in economic applications. Expected utility maximization has been widely applied in economic analysis, but progress has been slower incorporating 'systematically biased' agents into applications involving risk. This contrasts with the widespread application of present-biased preferences in intertemporal settings. To address this gap, we advocate a model of quasi-rank dependent probability weighting as a natural analog to quasi-hyperbolic discounting for decisions under risk. The model satisfies stochastic dominance and transitivity and transforms individual rather than cumulative probabilities. We illustrate the model’s tractability in several economic applications.

Comments

Working Paper 16-28

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.