Behavioural Measurements Series - Time and Risk Preferences

Speakers: Muhammad Meki (University of Oxford) and Farah Said (Lahore School of Economics)

Moderator: Mahreen Mahmud (University of Oxford)

Series Overview:

Every Thursday in September, the Mind & Behaviour Research Group at the University of Oxford will be hosting a new webinar series aimed at widening economists’ exposure to measurement techniques commonly used by behavioural economists in lab or real-world research settings. The series is aimed at young researchers, particularly those based in low- and middle-income countries. Each panel discussion in the series will offer an introduction to a concept and its measurement. We will then discuss the pros and cons of different measurement approaches and cover practical considerations when using them in the field. The aim is for this to be a platform for young researchers to discuss how to implement non-standard economic modules. These interactive sessions will include brief presentations from experienced invited speakers followed by a moderated Q&A session led by a University of Oxford researcher. All participants are encouraged to ask questions throughout the conversation.

Thursday, 3 September 2020
12:00 - 13:00
See MBRG resources:
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Measuring Time Preferences Using Behavioural Tasks with Monetary Rewards

Economists, behavioural scientists and other social scientists have been designing several methods to elicit individual’s preferences about their perception of future costs and benefits. In this post, we outline two commonly-used behavioural tasks with (real or hypothetical) monetary rewards used to elicit “time-preferences” in surveys: Multiple Price Lists (Andersen, Harrison, Lau, & Rutström, 2008) and Convex Time Budgets (Andreoni & Sprenger, 2012).

Giulio Schinaia
Measuring Risk Attitudes in the Field

Risk preferences play an important role in many domains of decision-making, and heterogeneity in risk attitudes has implications for our analysis and policy recommendations. As researchers collecting data in the field, we may (in some circumstances) want to directly measure the risk attitudes of the individuals we study. In this post we discuss some of the most popular elicitation and estimation methods for risk preferences.

Muhammad Meki