Willingness-to-pay and willingness-to-accept for state contingent claims

Former studies have shown that people tend to give buying prices that are lower than selling prices. In our study we investigate if this willingness to accept and willingness to pay disparity sustains for state contingent claims. Contingent claims are defined using risky, ambiguous, and different uncertain events. Using a Becker, DeGroot, and Marschak procedure we elicit buying, selling, short selling, and short buying prices. The results indicate that subjects clearly distinguished between the different events and positive and negative framing of contingent claims. However, the WTA/WTP ratios are remarkably close for all events as well as for negative and positive framing.