I examine the learning process that economic agents use to update their expectation of an uncertain and infrequently observed event. I use a new nation-wide panel dataset of large regional floods and flood insurance policies to show that insurance take-up spikes the year after a flood and then...

One of the critical challenges facing the 50 generation is deciding how to plan for retirement financing, how to convert assets into income and, generally, how to make sensible financial decisions for the next stage of their lives. Considering how complicated retirement planning and finance can...

We study the asset allocation of a quadratic loss-averse (QLA) investor and derive conditions under which the QLA problem is equivalent to the mean-variance (MV) and conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) problems. Then we solve analytically the two-asset problem of the QLA investor for a risk-free...

This paper uses proprietary data comprising of 4,155 participants who attended financial education seminars conducted by a major U.S. consumer credit counseling agency in 2007. In this study, knowledge gained from attending the seminars is estimated using a multivariate regression model. Results...

The new Medicare Part D program provides prescription drug coverage for older Americans through highly subsidized and tightly regulated plans offered by private insurance firms. For most eligible individuals without coverage from other sources, obtaining Part D coverage would be rational, but it...

We use data on households' deductible choices in auto and home insurance to estimate a structural model of risky choice that incorporates "standard" risk aversion (concave utility over final wealth), loss aversion, and nonlinear probability weighting. Our estimates indicate that nonlinear...

The new Medicare Part D program provides prescription drug coverage for older Americans through highly subsidized and tightly regulated plans offered by private insurance firms. For most eligible individuals without coverage from other sources, obtaining Part D coverage would be rational, but it...

We conduct an experiment to test whether the size of a loss and the time in a losing position affect investors’ adaptation to the loss situation and, subsequently, whether this adaptation affects future investment decisions. As investors adapt to losses, their neutral reference point shifts...

We use data on insurance deductible choices to estimate a structural model of risky choice that incorporates "standard" risk aversion (diminishing marginal utility for wealth) and probability distortions. We find that probability distortions - characterized by substantial overweighting of small...

I experimentally examine whether feedback about others' choices provides an anchor for decision-making under ambiguity. In a between-subjects design I vary whether subjects learn choices made individually by a "peer" in a first part when facing the same task a second time, and whether prospects...