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Updated: Aug 6, 2025

Measuring the Subjective Value of Risky and Ambiguous Options using Experimental Economics and Functional MRI Methods
Published on: September 19, 2012
On the role of monetary incentives in risk preference elicitation experiments
Andreas Hackethal1, Michael Kirchler2, Christine Laudenbach3
1Goethe University Frankfurt and Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, Frankfurt, Germany.
Abstract:
Incentivized experiments in which individuals receive monetary rewards according to the outcomes of their decisions are regarded as the gold standard for preference elicitation in experimental economics. These task-related real payments are considered necessary to reveal subjects' "true preferences." Using a systematic, large-sample approach with three subject pools of private investors, professional investors, and students, we test the effect of task-related monetary incentives on risk preferences in four standard experimental tasks. We find no significant differences in behavior between and within subjects in the incentivized and non-incentivized regimes. We discuss implications for academic research and forions in the field.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11166-022-09377-w.
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