https://thesis.eur.nl/col/4333/ List of Publications en https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/7555/ Fri, 16 Jul 2010 00:00:01 GMT <div>Wouters, S</div> Abstract This study is an effort in including the self-reflective view of behavioural economics into the field of health economics. With the use of the ‘Allais paradox’ modified for health outcomes, it is tested whether expected utility or rather a concept of psychological values should be used in modelling health-related human behaviour. Two experiments are conducted. The first experiment consists of a questionnaire with health-related trade-offs between different prospects, including the ‘Allais questions’ with health outcomes. With two binomial tests the predictions of both frequent and systematic violations of expected utility theory are confirmed. The second experiment consist of two additional ‘treatment’ questionnaires including three treatment questions in addition to the five health-related questions of the first experiment’s questionnaire. The treatments account for a change of initial state of mind before answering the Allais questions by using the method of ‘identity-salience’. A Pearson’s chi-square test is used to measure the association between the treatments (gambler and investor) and the choices made in the Allais questions. The results of this experiment are not conclusive yet in confirming the validity of psychological values in the context of health due to a low number of subjects. Therefore the need for further research on the concept of psychological values in the context of health decisions involving risk is emphasized. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/7558/ Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:00:01 GMT <div>Wetten P. van</div> https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/7588/ Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:00:01 GMT <div>Leeuwen, S. van</div> Abstract Several actors in business life and in the public sector have an interest in attaining more knowledge about how framing can influence a person’s time-inconsistency. This knowledge can be used to set up systems that are able to direct people into the direction that is best for themselves or most profitable for business life. This paper provides an examination of the existence of the delay-speedup asymmetry when using the measure of irrationality of Rohde (2008). The research is conducted by making use of a graphical analysis on the one hand and the statistical sound method of SPSS on the other. When reading this paper it becomes evident that this is an interesting topic to conduct further research on. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/7607/ Thu, 22 Jul 2010 00:00:01 GMT <div>Schreiner, M.</div> This research paper aims to test the robustness of two of Loewenstein and Prelec’s findings from the article “Preferences for Sequences of Outcomes”: The preference of individuals to spread outcomes over time and the preference to have a sequence with improving outcomes. By modifying their initial study, a questionnaire is constructed and through it the preferences for sequences of 120 students is collected. The results provide the basis for testing the applicability of the two theories proposed by Loewenstein and Prelec (1993). Graphical and statistical analysis is used in this paper to derive conclusions. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/7943/ Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:00:01 GMT <div>Hartmanns, M</div> The present study is done to evaluate whether economic background knowledge or health related background knowledge has an influence on the results when measuring utility. The comparison is done with three groups of students (Economics, Policy & Management in Health care and Economics & Law) and their utilities for three different health states using the PE-method and the PLE2-method. No significant results are found, but there are indications that respondents with economic background knowledge are less likely to give inconsistent answers in the questionnaire and therefore are less likely to be excluded from the analysis. Future studies with larger groups of respondents are needed to further test these indications. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/8961/ Thu, 17 Feb 2011 00:00:01 GMT <div>Kounnou, V.</div> The traditional relationship between doctors and patient has experienced structural changes and a new type of relationship emerged. Patients have been transformed into an active consumer of health information and claim their participation in the decision-making process. Internet use has a main impact on the significant change of the structure in the medical world. The main purpose of this study is to investigate whether internet use can affect positively or negatively the frequency of visit to doctors. The factors used in our analysis were internet use for health information, opportunity cost, quality of relationship and health state. The method used in our study was a questionnaire survey which tested the hypothesized relationship between internet use and frequency of visit to doctors. It was indicated that internet use affect negatively the frequency of visit to doctors. Furthermore quality of relationship and health state are significant factors that influence positively the frequency of visit to doctors in contrast with opportunity cost that has no significant impact. A potential relationship between internet use opportunity cost, quality of relationship and health state could be investigated in a greater extend. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/9351/ Wed, 29 Jun 2011 00:00:01 GMT <div>Vroegop, R.M.A.E.</div> 1. Introduction Sleep apnea syndrome is characterised by an abnormal high level of respiratory arrests during sleep. There are two different pathways that will result in sleep apnea syndrome. With Central Sleep Apnea Syndrome (CSAS) the brain fails to give enough stimulation to the respiratory muscles responsible for the breathing motion. The other pathway is Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS), in this case the soft pharynx tissue and tongue muscles relax too much during sleep which causes an obstruction of the upper airway. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine task force composed worldwide-accepted OSAS criteria. An apnea is defined as a respiratory arrest for at least 10 consecutive seconds. To express the severity of apnea the Apnea Hypopnea Index is used (AHI). The arrests must occur at least five times per sleeping hour (AHI>5) to be qualified as apnea syndrome. Besides this patients must also experience extreme sleepiness during daytime or fulfil at least two of the 5 following criteria: concentration problems, daytime fatigue, unsatisfying sleep, multiple awakenings during sleep, choking or gasping during sleep. A polysomnography allows CSAS to be distinguished from OSAS. This sleep study collects data on activity of the heart, brain and respiratory muscles. In case of CSAS the respiratory muscles are not activated during an apnea. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/9591/ Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:00:01 GMT <div>Roelse, S.</div> According to a new school of economics, people are not always rational. They make mistakes and can be influenced by thoughts and emotions. With this new insight in economics, labeled behavioral economics, some of the former models do not apply anymore. The theory is still valid but research shows new results because we now allow for influence, rather than the usable facts, in de decision making process. In this paper the impact of misconceptions of chance on economic success will be examined. People do not always choose optimal according the laws of chance. Biases make people choose different as could be rationally expected and therefore the oprimal decision is not always made. This paper will give an insight of misjudging probability on the success as freelance worker. The results show that some people do have incorrect probability judgment and that this is of negative influence on the success as freelance worker. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/9696/ Mon, 01 Aug 2011 00:00:01 GMT <div>Berendsen, L.</div> https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/10326/ Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:00:01 GMT <div>Brandt, T.</div> https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11251/ Wed, 09 May 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Tran, G.</div> Belonen, straffen, payoff structuur, communicatie en reputatie of shadow of the future kunnen de samenwerking bevorderen ten opzichte van het standaard prisoner’s dilemma. De scriptie bestudeert de literatuur over deze factoren in het prisoner’s dilemma. De literatuur geeft verschillende verklaringen voor de genoemde factoren en geeft aan dat die factoren zelf onderling afhankelijk zijn van andere variabelen. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11471/ Mon, 09 Jul 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Smolders, T.</div> n deze paper wordt het Prisoner’s Dilemma bekeken. Allereerst wordt het ontstaan en de werking van het dilemma besproken. Hierna zal aandacht worden besteed aan de verschillende strategische posities die men kan innemen binnen het dilemma. Vervolgens zal aandacht worden besteed aan één van de meest onderzochte onderwerpen binnen het dilemma, namelijk coöperatie. Hierna zal kort worden toegelicht hoe het spel kan worden geïmplementeerd binnen zowel het bedrijfsleven als de politiek. Vervolgens zal gekeken worden naar een nieuwe gebied waarin het dilemma gebruikt wordt, namelijk het dilemma in spelshows, in deze nieuwe context zijn inmiddels diverse onderzoeken gedaan. Tot slot zullen de belangrijkste bevindingen binnen de paper worden samengevat. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11464/ Mon, 09 Jul 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Martis, J.M.J.</div> This paper examines the problem of adverse selection in the health care insurance market. Unlike most of the recent papers, this paper considers behavioral economic factors that influence the problem of adverse selection in both a negative and positive way. I research the many testing of the existence of adverse selection in the health care insurance market and examine the negative consequences which adverse selection might have in this market. We distinguish between two types of individuals; low-risk and high-risk individuals. Low-risk individuals are those who are relatively healthy and/or have a low probability of incurring any health problems in the future and high-risk individuals are those who are relatively unhealthy and/or have a high probability of incurring any health problems in the future. The paper finds enough evidence to prove the existence of adverse selection in health care insurance markets. Before proposing several solutions for the problem, I first look at how countries are currently dealing with the problem and if their system is effective. Then I determine different deviations that individuals have from the rational expectations, primarily advantageous selection and determine whether these deviations reduce the problem of adverse selection. We conclude that both adverse selection and advantageous selection is present in the health care market. There are many tools to avoid the problem of adverse selection, such as insuring all individuals and making a risk-equalization fund. Adverse selection poses as a problem in a situation where countries do not take actions to avoid it, such as the above mentioned tools. If countries do not take these actions, high-risk individuals will make health care insurance companies less profitable and might even make them encounter losses. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11473/ Tue, 10 Jul 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Gaag, V. van der</div> https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11528/ Fri, 13 Jul 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Gouka, D.</div> When I followed the micro economic courses in my first and second years of my study, I was fascinated by the explanatory power on behavior many of these micro models seemed to have. My first feeling was that it was all very interesting, however when I passed these courses, a feeling started to grow on me that I would not be able to shake off, a feeling that these mathematical models would never really capture an actual decision making progress. When I observed the actions and decisions of others and myself, I observed so much irrational behavior that I actually started to wonder why I spend so much time studying theory that was not applicable. Of course my micro teachers did not sell me some fairy tell that these models did not have limitations. However, the fact that a bachelor student spends months of their time studying these models and spends hundreds of euro‟s on mathematical micro economic books should in my opinion mean that we actually get taught practical valuable methods. The behavioral economic courses where the first courses that actually introduced principles that really covered the human psyche and really formed the already present ideas in my mind. But instead of building forth on micro economy, the theory was based on experiments and formed its own theory. I started to recognize patterns of loss aversion and status quo bias in many, many elements of day-to-day life and confronted many micro economists that their theoretical work and conclusions missed these elements. In this thesis I want to take the basic micro economic model and improve them with one or more behavioral economic ideas. I spoke to micro economists and their opinion on behavioral economic bothered me. I want to counter the micro economists arguments against the behavioral economic field by showing the importance what can be done by a merging of the two field, and to convince people that behavioral and micro economics should not be different fields but behavioral economics should be the layer on top of micro economics to complete it. I want to help build the layer that actually brings the micro economic field to the next level and deals with the many irrationalities human decision making has. Even if I do not succeed merging the models, I want to at least show the problems I faced and most importantly inspire other people to expand the behavioral economic field. After writing this thesis, I realize now that it is much harder to combine the models than I thought it would be. I faced a lot of problems, and I want to thank my coordinator, dr. Baillon, for helping me through the progress. Although it was sometimes hard, I did learn a great deal about behavioral economic models. Enjoy reading. Daan Gouka https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11664/ Wed, 25 Jul 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Rietveldt, R.</div> This paper takes a look at the decision-making of contestants in the game show “De Postcode Loterij Miljoenenjacht”, the format that is also known as “Deal or No Deal” in countries outside The Netherlands. I have sampled 41 episodes looking for differences in decision-making caused by gender and age. No significant effects were found but this might be related to the fact that the semi final has characteristics of a “selection round”. In addition I looked for signs of reference dependence in the data. The data showed “Winners” and “Losers” were less likely to deal compared to their “Neutral” counterparts. This proves that the course of the game is relevant to what decision a contestant will make at the end of the round. My theory for “Winners” not only includes effects of reference dependence but also the overvaluation of small probabilities. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11704/ Mon, 30 Jul 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Hendriks, B.</div> https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11880/ Wed, 01 Aug 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Paulina, R.P.</div> Since 2004 the Dutch energy market has been liberalized implicating that each small-household is now entitled to choose its own provider. However according to the latest figures presented by the NMa in 2011 only 25% of the Dutch consumers were considering changing from their current provider to a new one. In this paper I will be discussing if this can be attributed to the Status Quo Bias as first introduced by Samuelson and Zeckhauser (1988). This will be done by examining available data, provided by the NMa, on this matter and proposing an empirical experiment to test whether the conclusions in this paper will hold. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11747/ Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Straatman, T.</div> For many decades research has been done on social preferences. Only recently researcher started to look for the occurrence of antisocial preferences. They designed new games to test for the ‘dark side’ of human nature. We tried to find out if antisocial preferences really exist or if they are just a side effect of the design of the games. We discussed fairness, inequality and reciprocity. We also checked for the occurrence of experimenter demand effects. In the last part of our research we wanted to see if and how social- and antisocial preferences would fit together. We found the positive burning rates found in the experiments were mainly because of fairness and inequality but there was also evidence for highly antisocial behavior. We found that social- and antisocial preferences would fit together and designed a scale to do this. Antisocial preferences do exist but they only cover a small part of human behavior. https://thesis.eur.nl/pub/11817/ Tue, 14 Aug 2012 00:00:01 GMT <div>Jansen, M.F.J.</div> Moral hazard and temporal resolution of uncertainty are both well explored topics in behavioral economics. However a combination of both theories in principal-agent contracts is not yet available. Combining these theories in principal-agent contracts leads to a better understanding of the optimal wages in multi-period contracts with resolution of uncertainty. In this paper Kreps’ model of moral hazard (1990) and Kreps’ and Porteus’ model of temporal resolution of uncertainty (1978) are combined. Introducing temporal resolution of uncertainty in the moral hazard model leads to the same wages when probability and function changes are accounted for, but only when the uncertainty is resolved from the start. If this is not done, less optimal risk sharing will occur between principal and agent due to a more concave utility function of the agent. Therefore, the model creates a smaller share for the principal in principal-agent contracts. Due to the restrictive nature of Kreps’ moral hazard model, a generalization is made using Holmstrom’s (1979) moral hazard model, which gives the same results.