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Too Proud to Stop: Regret in Dynamic Decisions

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  • Philipp Strack
  • Paul Viefers

Abstract

Regret and its anticipation affect a wide range of decisions. Job-seekers reject offers while waiting for an offer to match their best past offer; investors hold on to badly performing stocks; and managers throw good money after bad projects. We analyze behavior of a decision maker with regret preferences in a dynamic context and show that regret agents have a disposition to gamble until they receive a payoff matching the best past offer. Results from a lab experiment confirm that many subjects exhibit such behavior and are reluctant to stop below the past peak.

Suggested Citation

  • Philipp Strack & Paul Viefers, 2021. "Too Proud to Stop: Regret in Dynamic Decisions," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 165-199.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:jeurec:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:165-199.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/jeea/jvz073
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    2. Sautua, Santiago I., 2017. "Does uncertainty cause inertia in decision making? An experimental study of the role of regret aversion and indecisiveness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 1-14.
    3. Jhunjhunwala, Tanushree, 2021. "Searching to avoid regret: An experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 298-319.
    4. Embrey, Matthew & Seel, Christian & Philipp Reiss, J., 2024. "Gambling in risk-taking contests: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 570-585.
    5. Pëllumb Reshidi & Alessandro Lizzeri & Leeat Yariv & Jimmy H. Chan & Wing Suen, 2021. "Individual and Collective Information Acquisition: An Experimental Study," NBER Working Papers 29557, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Emmanuelle GABILLON, 2020. "When choosing is painful: anticipated regret and psychological opportunity cost," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2020-04, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    7. Kleinberg, Jon & Kleinberg, Robert & Oren, Sigal, 2022. "Optimal stopping with behaviorally biased agents: The role of loss aversion and changing reference points," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 282-299.
    8. Ambroise Descamps & Sébastien Massoni & Lionel Page, 2022. "Learning to hesitate," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(1), pages 359-383, February.
    9. Klimm, Felix & Kocher, Martin G. & Opitz, Timm & Schudy, Simeon, 2023. "Time pressure and regret in sequential search," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 406-424.
    10. Edika Quispe-Torreblanca & David Hume & John Gathergood & George Loewenstein & Neil Stewart, 2023. "At the Top of the Mind: Peak Prices and the Disposition Effect," Discussion Papers 2023-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    11. 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.
    12. Antler, Yair & Arad, Ayala, 2021. "An Experimental Analysis of the Prize-Probability Tradeoff in Stopping Problems," CEPR Discussion Papers 15973, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    13. Santiago I. Sautua, 2016. "Does Uncertainty Cause Inertia In Decision Making? An Experimental Study Of The Role Of Regret Aversion And Indecisiveness," Documentos de Trabajo 14587, Universidad del Rosario.
    14. Vicky Henderson & David Hobson & Matthew Zeng, 2023. "Cautious stochastic choice, optimal stopping and deliberate randomization," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 75(3), pages 887-922, April.
    15. Ambroise Descamps & S´ebastien Massoni & Lionel Page, 2017. "Optimal hesitation, an experiment," QuBE Working Papers 048, QUT Business School.
    16. Alex Imas & Diego Lamé & Alistair J. Wilson, 2016. "Regret in One-Shot and Recurrent Decisions: A Cautionary Tale," CESifo Working Paper Series 5939, CESifo.
    17. Jeeva Somasundaram & Enrico Diecidue, 2017. "Regret theory and risk attitudes," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 147-175, December.
    18. Ambroise Descamps & Sebastien Massoni & Lionel Page, 2019. "Learning to hesitate," Working Paper Series 58, Economics Discipline Group, UTS Business School, University of Technology, Sydney.
    19. Michele Fioretti & Alexander Vostroknutov & Giorgio Coricelli, 2022. "Dynamic Regret Avoidance," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 70-93, February.
    20. Markus Dertwinkel‐Kalt & Jonas Frey, 2024. "Optimal Stopping In A Dynamic Salience Model," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 65(2), pages 885-913, May.
    21. Imen Bouhlel & Michela Chessa & Agnès Festré & Eric Guerci, 2019. "When to Stop? A Theoretical and Experimental Investigation of an Individual Search Task," GREDEG Working Papers 2019-40, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    22. Michele Fioretti & Alexander Vostroknutov & Giorgio Coricelli, 2022. "Dynamic Regret Avoidance," SciencePo Working papers hal-03562318, HAL.

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    JEL classification:

    • D3 - Microeconomics - - Distribution
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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