Econ Papers Daily / 期刊论文
参考依赖的福利经济学
The Welfare Economics of Reference Dependence
摘要
We analyze welfare under reference-dependent preferences. We decompose the first-order welfare effects of reference point and price changes into direct and behavioral effects. The sign of these effects depends on the form of reference-dependent payoffs; which effects are welfare relevant depends on whether reference dependence reflects a bias. We characterize corresponding social welfare effects in terms of estimable reduced-form parameters and normative judgments. We apply our framework to reference dependence in German workers’ retirement decisions. We find positive welfare effects of local increases in the normal retirement age (NRA) but ambiguous effects of financial incentives to postpone retirement. (JEL D91, H55, J26, J32)
中文摘要
我们分析了参照依赖偏好下的福利效应。将参照点与价格变化的一阶福利效应分解为直接效应和行为效应。这些效应的符号取决于参照依赖收益的具体形式；而哪些效应具有福利相关性则取决于参照依赖是否反映了某种偏差。我们通过可估计的简化形式参数和规范性判断来刻画相应的社会福利效应。将分析框架应用于德国工人退休决策中的参照依赖现象，研究发现：当地正常退休年龄（NRA）的提高带来正向福利效应，但延迟退休的财务激励措施产生的福利效应则具有不确定性。（JEL分类号：D91, H55, J26, J32）