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Does the Better-Than-Average Effect Show That People Are Overconfident?: An Experiment

Author

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  • Benoît, Jean-Pierre
  • Dubra, Juan
  • Moore, Don

Abstract

We conduct a proper test of the claim that people are overconfident, in the sense that they believe that they are better than others. The results of the experiment we present do not allow us to reject the hypotheses that the data has been generated by perfectly rational, unbiased, and appropriately confident agents.

Suggested Citation

  • Benoît, Jean-Pierre & Dubra, Juan & Moore, Don, 2009. "Does the Better-Than-Average Effect Show That People Are Overconfident?: An Experiment," MPRA Paper 13168, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:13168
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/13168/1/MPRA_paper_13168.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Nestor Gandelman & Ruben Hernandez-Murillo, 2009. "The impact of inflation and unemployment on subjective personal and country evaluations," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 91(May), pages 107-126.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Overconfidence; Better than Average; Experimental Economics; Irrationality; Signalling Models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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