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Responsibility effects in decision making under risk

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  • Pahlke, Julius
  • Strasser, Sebastian
  • Vieider, Ferdinand M.

Abstract

We explore situations in which a decision-maker bears responsibility for somebody else's outcomes as well as for her own. For gains we confirm the intuition that being responsible for somebody else's payoffs increases risk aversion, while in the loss domain we find increased risk seeking. In a second experiment we replicate the finding of increased risk aversion for large probabilities of a gain, while for small probability gains we find an increase of risk seeking under conditions of responsibility. This discredits hypotheses of a cautious shift under responsibility, and indicates an accentuation of the fourfold pattern of risk attitudes usually found for individual choices.

Suggested Citation

  • Pahlke, Julius & Strasser, Sebastian & Vieider, Ferdinand M., 2012. "Responsibility effects in decision making under risk," Discussion Papers, WZB Junior Research Group Risk and Development SP II 2012-402, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbrad:spii2012402
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    risk attitude; prospect theory; social norms; responsibility; other-regarding preferences;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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