In a standard search model I relax the assumption that agents know the distribution of offers and characterize the behavioral and welfare consequences of overconfidence. Optimistic individuals search longer than pessimists if they are equally "stubborn" and high offers are good news. Otherwise, the pessimists search longer. The welfare of unbiased individuals is larger than that of overconfident decision makers if the latter's biases are large and searchers stubborn. Otherwise, the overconfident may be better off. Finally, I give a testable implication of overconfidence and discuss some applications and policy issues. (Copyright: Elsevier)
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Article provided by Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics in its journal Review of Economic Dynamics.
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Benoit, Jean-Pierre & Dubra, Juan, 2006.
"The problem of prevention,"
MPRA Paper
2462, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Mar 2007.
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Other versions:
Benoit, Jean-Pierre & Dubra, Juan, 2006.
"The Problem of Prevention,"
Working Papers
06-01, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University.
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