Working Papers

The WNE Working Papers series has been published by the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw since 2008.

The WNE Working Papers series provides a fast, open channel for disseminating research conducted at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw. The papers hosted here are working versions (pre-prints) and may evolve as authors refine their analyses, incorporate feedback, or progress through formal peer-review. What you read is the current version released by the authors, timestamped and assigned DOI/ISSN identifiers to ensure precise citation and version tracking. Copyright remains with the authors, who may, at any time, upload a revised file or add a note directing readers to a later, peer-reviewed publication.

The Working Papers series accepts articles by research employees of the Faculty and publications from conferences organised at the Faculty of Economic Sciences at the University of Warsaw. Articles should be original research papers which have not been previously published, on the subject of economics.

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(1) the main text without the title of the article and the authors (DOC/DOCX file) and

(2) the title page including: the title of the paper, the authors and their affiliation (DOC/DOCX file).

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Number of Results 4

WP(40/2020)346. Honey, Mugs and Caricatures: anchors on prices of consumer goods only hold hypothetically

Authors: Brzozowicz Magdalena, Krawczyk Michał
We elicit willingness to pay for different types of consumption goods, systematically manipulating irrelevant anchors (high vs. low) and incentives to provide true valuations (hypothetical vs. real). On top of a strong hypothetical bias, we find that…

WP346. Honey, Mugs and Caricatures: anchors on prices of consumer goods only hold hypothetically

We elicit willingness to pay for different types of consumption goods, systematically manipulating irrelevant anchors (high vs. low) and incentives to provide true valuations (hypothetical vs. real). On top of a strong hypothetical bias, we find that anchors only make a substantial, significant difference in the case of hypothetical data, the first experiments to directly document such an interaction. This finding suggests that hypothetical market research methods may deliver lower quality data. Moreover, it contributes to the discussion examining the mechanism underlying the anchoring effect, suggesting it could partly be caused by insufficient conscious efforts to drift away from the anchor.


Brzozowicz Magdalena, Krawczyk Michał
anchoring effect hypothetical bias WTP experiment

WP(20/2020)326. Ex-ante and ex-post measures to mitigate hypothetical bias. Are they alternative or complementary tools to increase the reliability and validity of DCE estimates?

Authors: Colombo Sergio, Budziński Wiktor, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Glenk Klaus
Hypothetical bias remains at the heart of controversy about the reliability and validity of value estimates from discrete choice experiments (DCEs). This especially applies to environmental valuation, where typically no market value exists for the go…

WP326. Ex-ante and ex-post measures to mitigate hypothetical bias. Are they alternative or complementary tools to increase the reliability and validity of DCE estimates?

Hypothetical bias remains at the heart of controversy about the reliability and validity of value estimates from discrete choice experiments (DCEs). This especially applies to environmental valuation, where typically no market value exists for the good under study. This has motivated a large body of literature that investigates possible approaches to test for and mitigate this bias. Our study provides further evidence to this debate by testing whether the use of ex-ante or ex-post mitigation strategies is effective in reducing hypothetical bias in DCEs. Specifically, we use individual and multiple ex-ante reminders along with ex-post data analysis to test whether their individual or joint use improves the quality of the willingness to pay (WTP) estimates. The analysis is carried out with the use of the state-of-the-art mixed logit model, as well as using the innovative semi-parametric logit-mixed-logit, which can capture non-standard heterogeneity distributions. The empirical study focuses on preferences for environmental and social impacts of organic olive production. Comparing three experimental treatments to a control treatment, we test whether cheap talk addressing hypothetical bias, a scale reminder or a combination of both affect stated WTP. In addition, we use ex-post data analysis aimed at correcting WTP estimates. Results show that cheap talk scripts and scale reminders, alone or in conjunction, did not significantly influence the results obtained from a sub-sample with standard budget constraint reminders. The ex-post approach outperforms the ex-ante approach and provides a significant reduction on mean WTP estimates.


Colombo Sergio, Budziński Wiktor, Czajkowski Mikołaj, Glenk Klaus
Choice experiment Hypothetical bias mitigation strategies

WP(23/2018)282. Hypothetical bias and framing effect in the valuation of private consumer goods

Authors: Brzozowicz Magdalena
In the laboratory experiment, I examine two behavioral effects: hypothetical bias and the framing effect. I elicited willingness to pay (WTP) for a cosmetic product, and manipulated framing conditions (positive vs. negative attribute framing) and inc…

WP282. Hypothetical bias and framing effect in the valuation of private consumer goods

In the laboratory experiment, I examine two behavioral effects: hypothetical bias and the framing effect. I elicited willingness to pay (WTP) for a cosmetic product, and manipulated framing conditions (positive vs. negative attribute framing) and incentives to reveal the actual valuation (hypothetical vs. real). In this case, I demonstrated that hypothetical bias has a significant impact on WTP values; however, the framing effect has no effect on valuation of the product. Similarly, I found no interaction between the two effects. This observation contributes to claims that hypothetical research methods lead to equally reliable data as those based on consequential choices. 


DOI: http://doi.org.10.26405/WP/WNE/2018/282/023
Brzozowicz Magdalena
framing effect hypothetical bias laboratory experiment

WP(24/2017)253. Do anchors hold for real? Anchoring effect and hypothetical bias in declared WTP

Authors: Brzozowicz Magdalena, Krawczyk Michał, Kusztelak Przemysław
In two field experiments the authors elicit willingness to pay for a mascara, systematically manipulating incentives to provide the true valuation (hypothetical vs. real) and anchors (high vs. low or high vs. none). Contrary to the key hypothesis, th…

WP253. Do anchors hold for real? Anchoring effect and hypothetical bias in declared WTP

In two field experiments the authors elicit willingness to pay for a mascara, systematically manipulating incentives to provide the true valuation (hypothetical vs. real) and anchors (high vs. low or high vs. none). Contrary to the key hypothesis, they find no interaction between the two effects: the anchoring effect is not attenuated when decisions actually matter. This finding speaks to validity of hypothetical market research methods and against the use of anchors to reduce hypothetical bias. It also contributes to the discussion of the mechanism underlying anchoring effect, suggesting it is not caused by insufficient conscious effort to drift away from the anchor.


DOI: https://doi.org/10.26405/WP/WNE/2017/253/024
Brzozowicz Magdalena, Krawczyk Michał, Kusztelak Przemysław
anchoring effect hypothetical bias WTP experiment
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