Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
信息偏好、参照点与享乐编辑：实验证据
Information preferences, reference points and hedonic editing: experimental evidence
摘要
We experimentally investigate preferences for clumping-versus-separating information in the gain and the loss domains, and also preferences for timing. Our design is motivated by the idea that information preferences may depend on reference points. Subjects participate in two monetary lotteries and choose how to receive the outcome information. For half of the subjects, the lotteries are framed as two gain lotteries; for the other half, as two loss lotteries. Based on Thaler (1985) one can expect that people want to learn the outcomes of the gain lotteries separately and the outcomes of the loss lotteries clumped together (cf. hedonic editing hypothesis). On the other hand, a different reference dependent model by Koszegi and Rabin (2009) relies on expectations-based reference points, and predicts that subjects should prefer clumped information irrespective of the frame. The results of our experiment show a preference for separating information about gains, and no preference for clumping or separating information about losses. Regarding timing, we find a weak overall preference for receiving information sooner. These findings provide new insights into information preferences. We conclude by discussing policy implications, as well as our additional contributions to related literature.
中文摘要
我们通过实验研究了人们在收益域和损失域中对信息聚合与分离的偏好，以及对信息获取时机的偏好。实验设计基于信息偏好可能依赖于参照点的理论假设。受试者参与两项货币抽奖，并选择如何接收结果信息。其中一半受试者的抽奖被设定为两项收益抽奖，另一半则为两项损失抽奖。根据Thaler（1985）的理论，人们可能倾向于分别了解收益抽奖的结果，而将损失抽奖的结果合并了解（参见享乐编辑假说）。另一方面，Koszegi和Rabin（2009）提出的基于期望参照点的不同参照依赖模型则预测，无论抽奖框架如何，受试者都应偏好信息聚合。实验结果显示，受试者偏好将收益信息分离呈现，而对损失信息则未表现出聚合或分离的明确偏好。在时机方面，我们发现受试者整体上微弱偏好尽早获取信息。这些发现为信息偏好研究提供了新见解。最后，我们讨论了政策含义及对相关文献的额外贡献。