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Book ChapterDOI

Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem

Daniel Kahneman, +2 more
- 01 Dec 1990 - 
- Vol. 98, Iss: 6, pp 1325-1348
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TLDR
In this paper, the Coase theorem predicts that about half the mugs will trade, but observed volume is always significantly less than the predicted volume, suggesting that transactions costs cannot explain the undertrading for consumption goods.
Abstract
Contrary to theoretical expectations, measures of willingness to accept greatly exceed measures of willingness to pay. This paper reports several experiments that demonstrate that this "endowment effect" persists even in market settings with opportunities to learn. Consumption objects (e.g., coffee mugs) are randomly given to half the subjects in an experiment. Markets for the mugs are then conducted. The Coase theorem predicts that about half the mugs will trade, but observed volume is always significantly less. When markets for "induced-value" tokens are conducted, the predicted volume is observed, suggesting that transactions costs cannot explain the undertrading for consumption goods.

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Feelings and Consumer Decision Making: The Appraisal-Tendency Framework

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Prospect Theory In The Wild: Evidence From The Field

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Resolving Differences in Willingness to Pay and Willingness to Accept: Reply

TL;DR: This paper showed that even though the mean WTP and WTA bids for market goods with close substitutes converge after market experience, the endowment effect might still be alive and well, albeit at statisti-cally insignificant levels.
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The Effect of Mere Touch on Perceived Ownership

TL;DR: This paper found that merely touching an object results in an increase in perceived ownership of that object and that perceived ownership can also be increased through touch for legal owners, or sellers of an object.
References
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Book ChapterDOI

Prospect theory: an analysis of decision under risk

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a critique of expected utility theory as a descriptive model of decision making under risk, and develop an alternative model, called prospect theory, in which value is assigned to gains and losses rather than to final assets and in which probabilities are replaced by decision weights.
Journal ArticleDOI

Loss Aversion in Riskless Choice: A Reference-Dependent Model

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a reference-dependent theory of consumer choice, which explains such effects by a deformation of indifference curves about the reference point, in which losses and disadvantages have greater impact on preferences than gains and advantages.
Journal ArticleDOI

Toward a positive theory of consumer choice

TL;DR: The economic theory of the consumer is a combination of positive and normative theories as discussed by the authors, which describes how consumers should choose, but it is also described how they do choose, and in certain well-defined situations many consumers act in a manner that is inconsistent with economic theory.
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Fairness as a Constraint on Profit Seeking: Entitlements in the Market

TL;DR: In customer or labor markets, it is acceptable for a firm to raise prices (or cut wages) when profits are threatened, and to maintain prices when costs diminish as mentioned in this paper, and several market anomalies are explained by assuming that these standards of fairness influence the behavior of firms.
Journal ArticleDOI

De gustibus non est disputandum

TL;DR: In this paper, the Notre collegue Christophe Longuet nous offre une traduction inedite de cet article canonique precedee d'une presentation, en tout point remarquable, vous sera certainement tres utile.
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