Essays in Behavioral Economics and Decision Theory

Abstract

This dissertation comprises three chapters on behavioral economics and decision theory. Each chapter is independent.

In the first chapter, I present the first experimental evidence that information receivers exhibit a preference for a larger signal space, even when it does not affect signal accuracy. This preference for a larger signal space suggests that users are more attracted to a five-star rating system than a binary recommendation system.

The second chapter is about the timing of the resolution of uncertainty. We provide the first experimental examination of uncertainty resolution in the domain of ambiguity. Results show that individuals prefer early resolution of both risk and ambiguity, and these preferences are positively correlated.

In the last chapter, we examined a novel explanation for vaccine hesitancy: ambiguity aversion. Using a modified version of the Interactive Vaccination (I-Vax) Game from Bohm et al. (2016), we found that ambiguity-averse subjects were more likely to take the vaccination in general but were differentially less likely to take it in a treatment where there is ambiguity in the vaccination option.