El panel de loterías como tarea no paramétrica para la obtención de la actitud frente al riesgo
In this paper, we propose a simple task for eliciting attitudes toward risky choice, the Sabater-Grande and Georgantzís (SGG) lottery-panel task, which consists in a series of lotteries constructed to compensate riskier options with higher risk-return trade-offs. Using Principal Component Analysis technique, we show that the SGG lotterypanel task is capable of capturing two dimensions of individual risky decision making: subjects’ average willingness to choose risky projects and their sensitivity towards variations in the return to risk. We report results from a large dataset obtained from the implementation of the SGG lottery-panel task and discuss regularities and the desirability of its …
The role of «perceived loss» aversion on credit screening: an experiment
A major characteristic of credit markets is information asymmetry.To combat its problems, as credit rationing, principals can use a menu of contracts to screen clients with different risk level. We conduct a laboratory experiment to address an important question for such settings —does the framing of the offered menu of contracts interfere with the self-selection mechanism? The answer is yes. We find subjects' choices shift when the same (positive) outcomes of the same menu of contracts are presented in two different frames. Subjects exhibit loss aversion in their perception of the positive outcomes below the reference point, and self-selection fails to occur. Uno de los mayores problemas a…
Gender differences in ultimatum games: Despite rather than due to risk attitudes
Abstract We analyze experimental data obtained from an ultimatum game framed as a situation of employee–employer negotiation over salaries. Parallel to this, we elicit subjects’ risk attitudes. In the existing literature, it has often been conjectured that gender differences in strategic environments are partly due to differences in risky decision making. Our evidence suggests that both gender and risk-related effects co-exist in ultimatum bargaining. However, differences in risk attitudes cannot explain gender effects in ultimatum bargaining.
Are credit screening contracts designed for men?
AbstractAccess to credit is key to succeed in business. Theoretical models of credit under asymmetric information classify borrowers and grant or deny credit, typically based on incentive-compatible contracts with collateral. However, if women are particularly risk averse, female borrowers may be wrongly classified and denied credit. We conduct in three countries a laboratory experiment to study this systematic gender difference. Results show that incentive-compatible contracts with collateral fail to disclose women’s private information, while disclosing men’s private information. We suggest that banks should incorporate the gender difference in risk attitudes to avoid the glass ceiling in…
On the evolution of monopoly pricing in Internet-assisted search markets
This study examines the evolution of prices in markets with Internet price-comparison search engines. The empirical study analyzes laboratory data of prices available to informed consumers, for two industry sizes and two conditions on the sample (complete and incomplete). Distributions are typically bimodal. One of the two modes of distribution, corresponding to monopoly pricing, tends to attract such pricing strategies increasingly over time. The second one, corresponding to interior pricing, follows a decreasing trend. Monopoly pricing can serve as a means of insurance against more competitive (but riskier) behavior. In fact, experimental subjects who initially earn low profits due to int…
Dealing with risk: Gender, stakes, and probability effects
This paper investigates how subjects deal with financial risk, both "upside" (with a small chance of a high payoff) and "downside" (with a small chance of a low payoff). We find that the same people who avoid risk in the downside setting tend to make more risky choices in the upside one. The experiment is designed to disentangle the probability-weighting and utility-curvature components of risk attitudes, and to differentiate settings in which gender differences arise from those in which they do not. Women are more risk averse for downside risks, but gender differences are diminished for upside risks.
Toward Value Co-Creation: Increasing Women’s Presence in Management Positions through Competition against a Set Target
Despite empirical evidence that women’s presence in management positions is a source of value co-creation for firms, these positions are still male-dominated. Some evidence from experimental economics suggests that one reason for this imbalance is that women shy away from competition. However, most of these studies have focused on competition systems that pit individuals against each other. We present an economic laboratory experiment that compares competition against others with competition against a set target. The crucial difference is that whereas the former involves competing against opponents, the latter does not. Our results show that significantly more women are willing to compete a…
Gender, self-confidence, sports, and preferences for competition
In the last years, research in economics has shown a gender gap in the willingness to compete with women shying away from competition more than men do. This gender difference in preferences towards competition has been considered a critical factor in explaining the small percentage of women found in top-level positions in business, science, or politics. Therefore, in order to improve women job prospects, research and policy interventions try to offer incentives for women to increase competitive behavior. However, other recent studies specifically point at men¿s competitive behavior as the responsible for some of the financial markets malfunctions, suggesting that an influx of talented women…