IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v230y2023ics0165176523002847.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social comparison with ambiguity: An investment and consumption game

Author

Listed:
  • Sun, Yuzhe
  • Zhang, Shunming

Abstract

This study presents an investment and consumption model with two ambiguity-averse agents whose utility depends on the opponent’s consumption. In Nash equilibrium, social comparison increases (decreases) investment and consumption for the more (less) ambiguous agent, decreasing the magnitude difference between agents. The opponent’s reduced ambiguity increases the agent’s investment and consumption by comparison incentive. However, neither rival’s ambiguity level nor comparative motivation affects the agent’s welfare in our one-period model, distinguished from conclusions in continuous time. These results have important implications for the literature about social comparison and ambiguity.

Suggested Citation

  • Sun, Yuzhe & Zhang, Shunming, 2023. "Social comparison with ambiguity: An investment and consumption game," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:230:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523002847
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111259
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176523002847
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2023.111259?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kandul, Serhiy & Lang, Ghislaine & Lanz, Bruno, 2020. "Social comparison and energy conservation in a collective action context: A field experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    2. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1082-1095, October.
    3. Gilboa, Itzhak & Schmeidler, David, 1989. "Maxmin expected utility with non-unique prior," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 141-153, April.
    4. Bruno S. Frey & Stephan Meier, 2004. "Social Comparisons and Pro-social Behavior: Testing "Conditional Cooperation" in a Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(5), pages 1717-1722, December.
    5. Bartke, Simon & Friedl, Andreas & Gelhaar, Felix & Reh, Laura, 2017. "Social comparison nudges—Guessing the norm increases charitable giving," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 73-75.
    6. Allcott, Hunt, 2011. "Social norms and energy conservation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1082-1095.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Linek, Maximilian & Traxler, Christian, 2021. "Framing and social information nudges at Wikipedia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 1269-1279.
    2. Cattaneo, Cristina & D’Adda, Giovanna & Tavoni, Massimo & Bonan, Jacopo, 2019. "Can We Make Social Information Programs More Effective? The Role of Identity and Values," RFF Working Paper Series 19-21, Resources for the Future.
    3. Brülisauer, Marcel & Goette, Lorenz & Jiang, Zhengyi & Schmitz, Jan & Schubert, Renate, 2020. "Appliance-specific feedback and social comparisons: Evidence from a field experiment on energy conservation," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    4. Bonan, Jacopo & Battiston, Pietro & Bleck, Jaimie & LeMay-Boucher, Philippe & Pareglio, Stefano & Sarr, Bassirou & Tavoni, Massimo, 2021. "Social interaction and technology adoption: Experimental evidence from improved cookstoves in Mali," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Uddin, Main & Wang, Liang Choon & Smyth, Russell, 2021. "Do government-initiated energy comparison sites encourage consumer search and lower prices? Evidence from an online randomized controlled experiment in Australia," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 188(C), pages 167-182.
    6. Gosnell, Greer K., 2018. "Communicating Resourcefully: A Natural Field Experiment on Environmental Framing and Cognitive Dissonance in Going Paperless," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 128-144.
    7. Holladay, Scott & LaRiviere, Jacob & Novgorodsky, David & Price, Michael, 2019. "Prices versus nudges: What matters for search versus purchase of energy investments?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 151-173.
    8. Schmidt, Robert J., 2019. "Do injunctive or descriptive social norms elicited using coordination games better explain social preferences?," Working Papers 0668, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    9. Dasgupta, Partha & Southerton, Dale & Ulph, Alistair & Ulph, David, 2014. "Consumer Behaviour in a Social Context: Implications for Environmental Policy," 2007 Annual Meeting, July 29-August 1, 2007, Portland, Oregon TN 2015-10, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    10. Partha Dasgupta & Dale Southerton & Alistair Ulph & David Ulph, 2016. "Consumer Behaviour with Environmental and Social Externalities: Implications for Analysis and Policy," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 65(1), pages 191-226, September.
    11. Assefa, Thomas W. & Magnan, Nicholas & McCullough, Ellen & McGavock, Tamara, 2022. "Stifled by Stigma? Experimental Effects of Updating Husbands’ Beliefs on Participation in Women’s Household Work," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322470, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Pinar Yildirim & Yanhao Wei & Christophe Bulte & Joy Lu, 2020. "Social network design for inducing effort," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 381-417, December.
    13. Isler, Ozan & Gächter, Simon, 2022. "Conforming with peers in honesty and cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 195(C), pages 75-86.
    14. Philipp Dörrenberg & Christoph Feldhaus, 2022. "How Does Group-Decision Making Affect Subsequent Individual Behavior?," CESifo Working Paper Series 9513, CESifo.
    15. Maliheh Paryavi & Iris Bohnet & Alexandra van Geen, 2019. "Descriptive norms and gender diversity: Reactance from men," Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, Center for Experimental and Behavioral Public Administration, vol. 2(1).
    16. Barron, Kai & Nurminen, Tuomas, 2020. "Nudging cooperation in public goods provision," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 88, pages 1-1.
    17. d'Adda, Giovanna & Dufwenberg, Martin & Passarelli, Francesco & Tabellini, Guido, 2020. "Social norms with private values: Theory and experiments," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 288-304.
    18. Kölle, Felix & Quercia, Simone, 2021. "The influence of empirical and normative expectations on cooperation," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 691-703.
    19. Partha Dasgupta & Dale Southerton & Alistair Ulph & David Ulph, 2014. "Consumer Behaviour in a Social Context: Implications for Environmental Policy," Discussion Paper Series, School of Economics and Finance 201407, School of Economics and Finance, University of St Andrews.
    20. Ayal, Shahar & Celse, Jérémy & Hochman, Guy, 2021. "Crafting messages to fight dishonesty: A field investigation of the effects of social norms and watching eye cues on fare evasion," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 9-19.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social comparison; Ambiguity aversion; Investment; Consumption; Nash equilibrium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D90 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:230:y:2023:i:c:s0165176523002847. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.