Rabin's paradox for health outcomes

B-Tier
Journal: Health Economics
Year: 2019
Volume: 28
Issue: 8
Pages: 1064-1071

Authors (2)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Many health economic studies assume expected utility maximisation, with typically a concave utility function to capture risk aversion. Given these assumptions, Rabin's paradox (RP) involves preferences over mixed gambles yielding moderate outcomes, where turning down such gambles imply absurd levels of risk aversion. Although RP is considered a classic critique of expected utility, no paper has as of yet fully tested its preferences within individuals. In an experiment we report a direct test of RP in the health domain, which was previously only considered in the economic literature, showing it may have pervasive implications here too. Our paper supports the shift towards alternative, empirically valid models, such as prospect theory, also in the health domain. These alternative models are able to accommodate Rabin's paradox by allowing reference‐dependence and loss aversion.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:wly:hlthec:v:28:y:2019:i:8:p:1064-1071
Journal Field
Health
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-24