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EXPLAINING ATTITUDES TOWARDS AMBIGUITY: AN EXPERIMENTAL TEST OF THE COMPARATIVE IGNORANCE HYPOTHESIS
Author(s) -
Dolan Paul,
Jones Martin
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
scottish journal of political economy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.4
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 1467-9485
pISSN - 0036-9292
DOI - 10.1111/j.0036-9292.2004.00307.x
Subject(s) - ambiguity , ignorance , econometrics , test (biology) , positive economics , economics , ambiguity aversion , range (aeronautics) , empirical research , psychology , mathematical economics , epistemology , philosophy , engineering , linguistics , paleontology , biology , aerospace engineering
Abstract Many theories have been put forward to explain attitudes towards ambiguity. This paper reports on an experiment designed to test for the existence of Comparative Ignorance when it is tested over events with a range of different likelihoods. A total of 93 subjects valued a series of gambles, one of which was played out for real. The results do not lend support to the theory, although the relationship between risk and ambiguity does appear to correspond with other theories and previous empirical work.