For humans its mugs and chocolate bars, for anthropoids its frozen fruit...
One of the seminal findings of behavioral economics is the endowment effect, in which humans show a tendency to value a good they have just come to possess more than the maximum price they would have...
View ArticleMore on chimpanzees and the endowment effect
A follow-up paper by two of the researchers involved in the chimpanzee endowment effect experiment offers an evolutionary explanation for its occurrence. From the abstract: Drawing on evolutionary...
View ArticleEvidence of the endowment effect? Thaler, himself.
From an article about the endowment effect in this week’s Economist: Supposedly rational economists are affected, too. Dr Thaler, who recently had some expensive bottles of wine stolen, observes that...
View ArticleWendy's cheeseburgers – food for economic thought
Behavioral economics or standard neoclassical economics? The endowment effect or a plain old good deal? You decide. [youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8t8kBeNDog"]
View ArticleThe endowment effect starts before the endowment
So reports Live Science: A new study suggests that just fingering an item on a store shelf can create an attachment that makes you willing to pay more for it. Previous studies have shown that many...
View ArticleRevisiting a behavioral economics classic: Why do people hold on to losing...
Tyler Cowen poses the following question about stocks, and what he says used to be the conventional behavioral economics answer. Let’s say you bought two stocks last year. One has tanked and looks...
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Assorted links
1) Taxes are more effective than subsidies in cutting calorie consumption. Hat tip: Farnam Street. 2) Airport security and snow removal have the availability heuristic in common. Hat tip: Mike Dariano....
View ArticleAssorted links
1) Stop the impulse buy; start the impulse save. Hat tip: Thomas Sander. 2) The endowment effect in poker? 3) Five “persuasive” technologies. Hat tip: K.O. 4) 12 tactics retailers use to get you to...
View ArticleDrip pricing – using behavioral economics to squeeze customers' wallets
Tim Harford explains: The UK’s Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has been turning to behavioural economists for advice on such tactics, and has found that there is no pricing scheme more pernicious than...
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