The disposition effect is a well-established phenomenon which describes the behavior of investors that are more willing to sell capital gains than capital losses. In this article we present experimental evidence on a situation where an investor decides on behalf of another person. In our...

This thesis contributes to the understanding of the economic decision making of farmers. In five chapters, different experimental investigations of preferences and cognitive biases are presented. Various experimental measures of risk and time preference are applied to analyze farmers’...

In this thesis I present three essays in which the influence of heuristics on individual decision making is analyzed and two essays dealing with behavioral aspects of moral costs. In chapter two, we investigate the effect a traders’ decision can have on the disposition effect heuristic when...

The discount rate is of great importance for all decisions in an intertemporal context, such as the decision of how much a society invests in environmental preservation, or the financial decisionmaking on the individual level. This study experimentally investigates the time preferences of...

Many economic decision situations of foresters and farmers are characterized by risk. Thereby, the individual risk attitude is of particular interest for understanding decision behaviour and, thus, is fundamental for valuable policy recommendations. The literature provides various methods to...

A person's reach of efficient economic activities is strongly influenced by the extent to which she grants trust towards other people. The radius of trust has recently gained interest as a concept to elucidate the underlying principles of how far a person extends her trust. However, empirical...

Purpose: Urbanization is a main driver of the transformation from agricultural-based economies to service-based economies. At the same time, urbanization might also alter preferences and attitudes such as risk and time preferences that contribute to economic growth and foster this transition....

The discount rate is of great importance for all decisions in an intertemporal context, such as the decision of how much a society invests in environmental preservation, or the financial decisionmaking on the individual level. This study experimentally investigates the time preferences of...