We review experimental evidence collected from risky choice experiments using poor subjects in Ethiopia, India and Uganda. Using these data we estimate that just over 50% of our sample behaves in accordance with expected utility theory and that the rest subjectively weight probability according...

We report the results of an experimental test for feedback-conditional regret effects using a naturally occurring gamble. The properties of this gamble are likely to engage decision-makers to a greater extent than conventional abstract laboratory gambles, and be more generally exhibited by real...

We report the results of an experimental test for feedback-conditional regret effects using a naturally occurring gamble. The properties of this gamble are likely to engage decision-makers to a greater extent than conventional abstract laboratory gambles, and be more generally exhibited by real...

A significant body of experimental evidence documents systematic violations of the transitivityaxiom of expected utility theory in a manner consistent with regret theory. In a recent paper Starmerand Sugden (in press) test a variety of alternative explanations of this evidence, including...

This paper reports experimental tests of two alternative explanations of how players use focal points to select equilibria in one-shot coordination games. Cognitive hierarchy theory explains coordination as the result of common beliefs about players’ pre-reflective inclinations towards the...

We report an experiment designed to evaluate the impact of loss aversion on rent-seeking contests. We find, as theoretically predicted, a negative relationship between rent-seeking expenditures and loss aversion. However, for any degree of loss aversion, levels of rent-seeking expenditure are...

We present a simple classroom principal-agent experiment that can effectively be used as a teaching device to introduce important concepts of organizational economics and contracting. In a first part, students take the role of a principal and design a contract that consists of a fixed payment...

This paper discusses the empirical evidence from lab and field experiments on voluntary cooperation. We present the most important findings from numerous public goods experiments and argue that conditional cooperation (contributions are conditional on other people’s contribution) is a primary...

Loss aversion, the fact that losses have a greater impact than gains, is a fundamental property of behavioral accounts of choice. In this paper, we suggest four possible characterizations of the relative impact of losses and gains: (1) It could be a constant, such as the much cited value of 2,...

We explore the scientific potential of virtual worlds for experimental economists. In particular, we report the results of a series of virtual world experiments designed to examine the suitability of (a) users as subjects and (b) the computer interface as an experimental platform. Formal results...