Dimmock, S., Kouwenberg, R. and Wakker, P. (2016). Ambiguity Attitudes in a Large Representative Sample Management Science, 62(5):1363--1380.


  • Affiliated authors
    Roy Kouwenberg, Peter Wakker
  • Publication year
    2016
  • Journal
    Management Science

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.