L'influence de la durée d'engagement et du vécu dans les décisions d'assurance : deux études expérimentales

This paper reports results from two experimental studies that investigate insurance behaviours in low-probability high-loss risk situations. The first study took place in France and the second one in Germany. These two studies reveal that insurance behaviours may depend on the past-experience related to risk, and also on the duration of the period during which individuals commit themselves to hold the same insurance decision. Non-additive decision models such as Dual Theory and Cumulative Prospect Theory appear to have a higher descriptive power than Expected Utility Theory when explaining subjects' behaviours. This paper presents direct experimental tests of the prediction of Myopic Prospect Theory relative to insurance demand. These theoretical concepts permit to understand many behaviours commonly observed in reality but which remain unexplained within the E.U. framework. In particular, this paper provided new explanations about the puzzling fact that people usually fail to obtain insurance against disaster-type risks such as natural disasters, even when premiums are close to actuarially fair levels