eprintid: 16530
rev_number: 27
eprint_status: archive
userid: 2744
dir: disk0/00/01/65/30
datestamp: 2014-03-21 14:34:04
lastmod: 2016-01-01 21:30:22
status_changed: 2014-03-21 14:34:04
type: workingPaper
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Oechssler, Jörg
creators_name: Roomets, Alex
title: A Test of Mechanical Ambiguity 
subjects: ddc-330
divisions: i-180001
divisions: i-181000
keywords: ambiguity aversion, uncertainty, experiment, Ellsberg.
abstract: We implement an experiment to elicit subjects’ ambiguity attitudes in the spirit of Ellsberg’s three-color urn. The procedure includes three design elements that (together) have not been featured in similar experiments: Strict ambiguity preferences, a single decision, and a mechanical randomization device with an unknown distribution (to both subjects and experimenters). We use this device in order to eliminate possible ‘strategic’ ambiguity related to subjects’ beliefs about the experimenters’ motivations. In addition, we survey 40 experimental studies on Ellsberg’s two- and three-color problems, and find that, on average, slightly more than half of subjects are classified as ambiguity averse. Our results, with our new design, fall on the low end of the range of results in the surveyed studies, and are comparable to a control test where “strategic” ambiguity was induced.
date: 2014-03
id_scheme: DOI
id_number: 10.11588/heidok.00016530
schriftenreihe_cluster_id: sr-3
schriftenreihe_order: 0555
ppn_swb: 1654206318
own_urn: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-165302
language: eng
bibsort: OECHSSLERJATESTOFMEC201403
full_text_status: public
series: Discussion Paper Series / University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics
volume: 0555
pages: 19
citation:   Oechssler, Jörg ; Roomets, Alex  (2014) A Test of Mechanical Ambiguity.  [Working paper]     
document_url: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/16530/1/Oechssler_Roomets_2014_dp555.pdf