[Séminaire CREM] Stability of preferences with money and chocolate: an experiment on risk, time and altruism - Faculté Des Sciences Economiques

Résumé: The economic modelling of consumer decision is based on the axiom of preference stability. From this, there is no change in a decision even if environment or incentives change. Experiments in Economics showed violations of this postulate, and opened way to development of behavioral economics. However, experiments are generally conducted with trade-offs on monetary values and infer on consumer decisions about primary goods or other behaviors. Our question is to know if experimental measures of a preference permit to infer on other behaviors than this trade-off (consumptions or other behaviors)? Thus, we are interesting by the effect of a change in incentive good, from a fungible good (money) to a less fungible good or primary good (chocolate). We introduce this into 3 measures designed to reveal individual preferences: measure of risk aversion, of time preference, and of sharing in Dictator game (altruism). At the end, if an individual behaves in the same way with the two goods, then this behavior is related with a personality trait and not with the good on which the decision is. We explore this question thought an experimental survey with 451 students. Our results show that there is no difference in time preference, chocolate likers and women are more risk averse with chocolate, and that people share more chocolate than money. We observe stability of preference for some people.