Business Economics and Public Policy Papers
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
12-2012
Publication Source
Journal of Behavioral Decision Making
Volume
25
Issue
5
Start Page
534
Last Page
543
DOI
10.1002/bdm.754
Abstract
We carry out a large monetary stakes insurance experiment with very small probabilities of losses and ambiguous as well as exact probabilities. Many individuals do not want to pay anything for insurance whether the probabilities are given exactly or are ambiguous. Many others, however, are willing to pay surprisingly large amounts. With ambiguity, the percentage of those paying nothing is smaller and the willingness to pay (WTP) of the other individuals larger than with exact probabilities. Comparing elasticities with ambiguity, we find that worry is much more important than subjective probability in determining WTP for insurance. Furthermore, when the ambiguous loss probability is increased by a factor of 1000, it has almost no effect on WTP. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Copyright/Permission Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Schade, C., Kunreuther, H. and Koellinger, P. (2012), Protecting Against Low-Probability Disasters: The Role of Worry. J. Behav. Dec. Making, 25: 534–543. doi:10.1002/bdm.754, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.754. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving http://olabout.wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-820227.html#terms
Recommended Citation
Schade, C., Kunreuther, H., & Koellinger, P. (2012). Protecting Against Low-Probability Disasters: The Role of Worry. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 25 (5), 534-543. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/bdm.754
Embargo Date
9-26-2013
Included in
Business Commons, Economics Commons, Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons
Date Posted: 27 November 2017
This document has been peer reviewed.