Article | Finance area | Year 2016
 

Ambiguity attitudes in a large representative sample

by S. G. Dimmock; Roy Kouwenberg; P. P. Wakker
  
  Management Science 62(5), p.1363-1380 May

Abstract

Using a theorem showing that matching probabilities of ambiguous events can capture ambiguity attitudes, we introduce a tractable method for measuring ambiguity attitudes and apply it in a large representative sample. In addition to ambiguity aversion, we confirm an ambiguity component recently found in laboratory studies: a-insensitivity, the tendency to treat subjective likelihoods as 50-50, thus overweighting extreme events. Our ambiguity measurements are associated with real economic decisions; specifically, a-insensitivity is negatively related to stock market participation. Ambiguity aversion is also negatively related to stock market participation, but only for subjects who perceive stock returns as highly ambiguous. ©2016 INFORMS.

Keywords: Ambiguity aversion; Knightian uncertainty; Nonexpected utility; Nonparticipation; Portfolio choice; Reference dependence; Stock market participation; Uncertainty