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Risk-neutral firms can extract unbounded profits from consumers with prospect theory preferences

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  • Azevedo, Eduardo M.
  • Gottlieb, Daniel

Abstract

This paper considers the problem of a risk-neutral firm offering a gamble to consumers with preferences given by prospect theory. Under conditions satisfied by virtually all functional forms used in the literature, firms can extract arbitrarily high expected values from consumers. Moreover, for any given lottery, there exists another lottery that makes both the firm and the consumer better off. As a consequence, equilibria and Pareto optimal allocations do not exist in standard monopolistic or competitive models.

Suggested Citation

  • Azevedo, Eduardo M. & Gottlieb, Daniel, 2012. "Risk-neutral firms can extract unbounded profits from consumers with prospect theory preferences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(3), pages 1291-1299.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:147:y:2012:i:3:p:1291-1299
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2012.01.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Henderson, Vicky & Hobson, David & Tse, Alex S.L., 2017. "Randomized strategies and prospect theory in a dynamic context," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 287-300.
    2. Tan Gan, 2022. "Gacha Game: When Prospect Theory Meets Optimal Pricing," Papers 2208.03602, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    3. Dertwinkel-Kalt, Markus & Köster, Mats, 2017. "Local thinking and skewness preferences," DICE Discussion Papers 248, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    4. Markus Dertwinkel-Kalt & Mats Köster, 2020. "Salience and Skewness Preferences [Risk-neutral Firms can Extract Unbounded Profits from Consumers with Prospect Theory Preferences]," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 18(5), pages 2057-2107.
    5. Sebastian Ebert & Philipp Strack, 2015. "Until the Bitter End: On Prospect Theory in a Dynamic Context," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(4), pages 1618-1633, April.
    6. Li, Xindan & Subrahmanyam, Avanidhar & Yang, Xuewei, 2018. "Can financial innovation succeed by catering to behavioral preferences? Evidence from a callable options market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(1), pages 38-65.
    7. Yiwei Chen & Vivek F. Farias & Nikolaos Trichakis, 2019. "On the Efficacy of Static Prices for Revenue Management in the Face of Strategic Customers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(12), pages 5535-5555, December.
    8. Christian Hilpert, 2020. "The Effect of Risk Aversion and Loss Aversion on Equity‐Linked Life Insurance With Surrender Guarantees," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(3), pages 665-687, September.
    9. Toomas Hinnosaar, 2015. "On the impossibility of protecting risk-takers," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 404, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    10. Heutel, Garth, 2019. "Prospect theory and energy efficiency," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 236-254.
    11. Kris De Jaegher, 2019. "Strategic framing to influence clients’ risky decisions," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 86(3), pages 437-462, May.
    12. Araujo, A. & Gama, J. & Suarez, C.E., 2022. "Lack of prevalence of the endowment effect: An equilibrium analysis," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    13. Daniel Ladley & Guanqing Liu & James Rockey, 2016. "Margin Trading: Hedonic Returns and Real Losses," Discussion Papers in Economics 16/06, Division of Economics, School of Business, University of Leicester.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Prospect theory; Dutch books; Equilibrium existence; Insurance markets;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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