3:30 pm - 5:00 pm
GSB 500, 9007 116 St NW, Edmonton AB
Title: Impulsiveness affects stated preferences. Is it a cause of hypothetical bias?
Speaker: Dr. Curtis Rollins, Lecturer, Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, University of Western Australia
Date: Friday, December 6, 2024
Time: 3:30pm – 5:00pm
Location: GSB 550
Abstract:
This paper examines whether and how impulsiveness affects stated preferences. Impulsiveness is a psychological trait of individuals associated with low self-control, present bias, and inattention to costs or negative outcomes. These characteristics of impulsiveness could explain variation in preferences between individuals, or who is more prone to hypothetical bias in stated-preference surveys. Using a psychometric scale measuring impulsiveness, we estimated hybrid choice models to understand how impulsiveness affects responses in seven choice experiments, and one measure of real behaviour. The experiments covered a range of topics, including biodiversity policy, urban parks, and earthquake risk mitigation. In all seven experiments, more impulsive respondents were less responsive to cost increases and/or less likely to select the status-quo alternative, in which no improvements were offered. In turn, impulsiveness was generally linked to higher willingness-to-pay estimates. However, impulsiveness did not affect real behaviour. These results suggest impulsiveness could be a driver of hypothetical bias in stated-preference research. This discovery motivates further research on understanding psychological drivers of hypothetical bias, how or whether they can be mitigated, or whether stated-preference questions are suitable for all types of people.
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