The reciprocal spillover effects of informal risk sharing on formal insurance

讲座内容简介：    

People are sometimes reluctant to purchase insurance. We show that there could be a reciprocal motivation channel, i.e., individuals have a tendency to match behavioral kindness (unkindness) to kindness (unkindness) from others. Especially, informal risk-sharing in one market can influence insurance purchase decision in another market. We explore this channel in the form of Dufwenberg & Kirchsteiger (2004) and derive testable hypotheses. To test the validity of our theory, we design an experiment in which two players need to make risk-sharing decisions simultaneously in two independent markets. Moreover, we allow one player (i.e. the insured) to purchase formal insurance in one market beforehand. Under such an experimental design, testing our hypotheses allows us to make a clear-cut distinction between intention-based reciprocity and other behavioral channels, such as altruism and inequality aversion..

讲座嘉宾简介：     

林森然是西南财经大学中国行为经济与行为金融研究中心的助理教授。