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Is it myopia or loss aversion? A study on investment game experiments

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  • Iturbe-Ormaetxe, Iñigo
  • Ponti, Giovanni
  • Tomás, Josefa

Abstract

Gneezy and Potters (1997) designed an investment game experiment and found that, consistent with Myopic Loss Aversion (MLA), individuals are more willing to take risks when they evaluate the results of their investments less frequently. We formally prove that these findings can be accommodated by a standard CRRA functional, once we assume narrow bracketing, a specific form of myopia by which subjects take each decision in isolation and neglect asset integration. We build a compound dataset containing the evidence of Gneezy and Potters (1997) and other replications and structurally estimate both “CRRA plus narrow bracketing” and MLA, together with a mixture model in which we estimate the probability with which each observation is generated by either model. Our results suggest that the CRRA model can also accommodate this experimental evidence, providing empirical support to our theoretical findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Iturbe-Ormaetxe, Iñigo & Ponti, Giovanni & Tomás, Josefa, 2019. "Is it myopia or loss aversion? A study on investment game experiments," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 36-40.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:180:y:2019:i:c:p:36-40
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2019.04.006
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    2. Ponti, Giovanni & Tomás, Josefa, 2021. "Diminishing marginal myopic loss aversion: A stress test on investment games experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 125-133.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Myopic loss aversion; CRRA; Narrow bracketing;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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