This dissertation presents four independent papers that advance experimental methods and test theories on saving using experimentally elicited characteristics. The first two papers test two behavioral theories on precautionary saving based on the characteristics loss aversion and prudence by...

The phenomenon of adaptive preferences – sometimes also known under the name of sour grapes – has long caused a stir in Social Theory. In this paper, the precise problem posed by adaptive preferences, as seen from the point of view of a theoretician who intends to model or understand the...

Designing a mechanism that provides a direct incentive for an individual to report her utility function over several alternatives is a difficult task. A framework for such mechanism design is the following: an individual (a decision maker) is faced with an optimization problem (e.g.,...