Motivated Errors
American Economic Review
vol. 114,
no. 4, April 2024
(pp. 961-87)
Abstract
Myriad environments allow for the possibility of confusion. Agents may appeal to such confusion—or the possibility of making an honest mistake—to justify their behavior. In three sets of experiments involving thousands of subjects, we document evidence of such motivated errors. We document this evidence in a simple environment in which the scope for errors is small and in more complex environments in which subjects display correlation neglect and an anchoring bias.Citation
Exley, Christine L., and Judd B. Kessler. 2024. "Motivated Errors." American Economic Review, 114 (4): 961-87. DOI: 10.1257/aer.20191849Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C91 Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
- D12 Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
- D64 Altruism; Philanthropy; Intergenerational Transfers
- D81 Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- D91 Micro-Based Behavioral Economics: Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making