We study risky inter-temporal choice in a large random student sample (n=721) and a large rural sample (n=835) in Malawi. All respondents were exposed to the same 20 Multiple Choice Lists with a rapid elicitation method that facilitated the identification of near-future Certainty Equivalents of...

Prenatal androgens have organizational effects on brain and endocrine system development, which may have a partial impact on economic decisions. Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between prenatal testosterone and financial risk taking, yet results remain inconclusive. We...

This short paper demonstrates that the claim of Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT) that people are risk seeking for loss prospects appears to be merely a result of using a specific form of the probability weighting function to estimate the power factor of the value function. Using experimental...

We present a novel descriptive model of choice that achieves an efficient representation anchored to how the brain represents value. An individual's behavior is fully described by two primitives: an individual's "reward expectation'' and a free parameter we call "predisposition''. We demonstrate...

We relax assumptions on individual risk preference, and set two theoretical rules for portfolio choices: either minimize or maximize risk, for any return. Risk is modeled by four alternative formulas. We empirically test these rules by observing N=690 individuals (Caucasians, bank customers and...

We combine forward investment performance processes and ambiguity averse portfolio selection. We introduce the notion of robust forward criteria which addresses the issues of ambiguity in model specification and in preferences and investment horizon specification. It describes the evolution of...

While natural or technological hazards do not affect population homogeneously, self-protection is often decided and financed centrally. This paper builds a model of portfolio allocation with heterogeneity in disaster risk exposure, and with a utilitarian regulator that must decide on the amount...

Presentation Slides for "Overconfidence, Arbitrage, and Equilibrium Asset Pricing" This paper offers a model in which asset prices reflect both covariance risk and misperceptions of firmsapos prospects, and in which arbitrageurs trade against mispricing. In equilibrium, expected returns are...

We show that if an agent is uncertain about the precise form of his utility function, his actual relative risk aversion may depend on wealth even if he knows his utility function lies in the class of constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility functions. We illustrate the consequences of this...