The St. Petersburg Paradox despite risk-seeking preferences. An experimental study

Konferenzbeitrag

The St. Petersburg Paradox is one of the oldest violations of expected utility theory. Thus far, explanations of the paradox aim at small probabilities being perceived as zero and the boundedness of utility. This paper provides experimental results showing that neither risk attitudes nor perception of small probabilities explain the paradox. We find that even in situations where subjects are risk-seeking, the St. Petersburg Paradox exists. This indicates that the paradox lies at the very core of human decision-making processes and cannot be explained by the parameters discussed in previous research so far.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2010: Ökonomie der Familie - Session: Individual Decision Making Under Risk and Uncertainty ; No. F15-V1

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual ; Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty ; Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty: General

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Kroll, Eike Benjamin ; Vogt, Bodo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Verein für Socialpolitik
• (where): Frankfurt a. M.
• (when): 2010

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/37392
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET