Exogenous Endowment—Endogenous Reference Point

In: The economic journal: the journal of the Royal Economic Society, Band 130, Heft 625, S. 160-182

Abstract

Abstract
We develop a model in the presence of categories that creates a link between the agent's exogenous endowment and an endogenous reference point. The reference point is the best feasible alternative in the endowment's category. This reference generates a constraint set from which the final choice is made according to utility maximisation. The model predicts category bias, which generalises the status quo bias by attracting the agent to her endowment's category but not necessarily to the endowment itself. We show that it accommodates recent experimental findings regarding the presence and absence of status quo bias in the realm of uncertainty. In a stylised financial setup, we show that it may lead to a risk premium even with risk-neutral agents.