A monetary measure of the strength and robustness of the attraction effect

Paolo Crosetto (1, 2) , Alexia Gaudeul (3)

1 GAEL - Laboratoire d'Economie Appliquée de Grenoble
2 INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
3 Georg-August-University = Georg-August-Universität Göttingen

The Attraction Effect has been studied in conditions of indifference among options and measured at the aggregate level. We introduce a new within-subjects design based on induced preferences and psychometrics. Our method yields two individual-level measures: the traditional, frequency measure and a new, monetary indicator. The monetary indicator measures the robustness of the effect to decreases in the relative utility of the target with respect to the competitor. We find choice frequencies consistent with the literature. Our monetary measure shows that subjects still prefer the target up to the point where it is 8% more expensive than the competitor.

Mots clés: psychometrics; attraction effect; asymmetric dominance; induced preferences; experimental economics

Domaines: Economies et finances

Paolo Crosetto, Alexia Gaudeul. A monetary measure of the strength and robustness of the attraction effect. Economics Letters, 2016, 149 (December), pp.38-43. ⟨10.1016/j.econlet.2016.09.031⟩. ⟨hal-01404549⟩