Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hhs/gunwpe/0090.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Are Commercial Fishers Risk Lovers?

Author

Listed:
  • Eggert, Håkan

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University)

  • Martinsson, Peter

    (Department of Economics, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Göteborg University)

Abstract
Empirical studies of fishers’ preferences have found that most fishers are risk-averse, while expected-utility theory predicts risk neutrality even for sizable stakes. We test this prediction using data from a stated choice experiment with Swedish commercial fishers. Our results show that almost 90% of the respondents do not behave as expected-utility maximizers. 48% of the fishers can be broadly characterized as risk-neutral, 26% as modestly risk-averse, while 26% are strongly risk-averse. Fishers are more risk-neutral the higher the fraction of their household’s income comes from fishing, while fishers with a positive attitude to individual quotas are more risk-averse. Sensitivity testing implies that decisions with modest stakes like a few days of fishing are not influenced by wealth level.

Suggested Citation

  • Eggert, Håkan & Martinsson, Peter, 2003. "Are Commercial Fishers Risk Lovers?," Working Papers in Economics 90, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0090
    Note: Published in Land Economics, 2004, Vol. 80, pp. 550-560.
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mehra, Rajnish & Prescott, Edward C., 1985. "The equity premium: A puzzle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 145-161, March.
    2. Colin Camerer & Linda Babcock & George Loewenstein & Richard Thaler, 1997. "Labor Supply of New York City Cabdrivers: One Day at a Time," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 407-441.
    3. Davis, Douglas D. & Holt, Charles a., 1993. "Experimental economics: Methods, problems and promise," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 8(2), pages 179-212.
    4. Shlomo Benartzi & Richard H. Thaler, 1995. "Myopic Loss Aversion and the Equity Premium Puzzle," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 110(1), pages 73-92.
    5. Johan A. Mistiaen & Ivar E. Strand, 2000. "Location Choice of Commercial Fishermen with Heterogeneous Risk Preferences," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1184-1190.
    6. Ernst Fehr & Lorenz Goette, 2007. "Do Workers Work More if Wages Are High? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(1), pages 298-317, March.
    7. Johansson-Stenman, Olof & Carlsson, Fredrik & Daruvala, Dinky, 2001. "Measuring Hypothetical Grandparents Preferences For Equality And Relative Standings," Working Papers in Economics 42, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    8. Håkan Eggert & Ragnar Tveteras, 2004. "Stochastic Production and Heterogeneous Risk Preferences: Commercial Fishers' Gear Choices," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(1), pages 199-212.
    9. Matthew Rabin, 2000. "Risk Aversion and Expected-Utility Theory: A Calibration Theorem," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(5), pages 1281-1292, September.
    10. Matthew Rabin & Richard H. Thaler, 2013. "Anomalies: Risk aversion," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 27, pages 467-480, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    11. Charles A. Holt & Susan K. Laury, 2002. "Risk Aversion and Incentive Effects," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(5), pages 1644-1655, December.
    12. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    13. Bockstael, Nancy E. & Opaluch, James J., 1983. "Discrete modelling of supply response under uncertainty: The case of the fishery," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 125-137, June.
    14. David Revelt & Kenneth Train, 1998. "Mixed Logit With Repeated Choices: Households' Choices Of Appliance Efficiency Level," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(4), pages 647-657, November.
    15. Joseph Golec & Maurry Tamarkin, 1998. "Bettors Love Skewness, Not Risk, at the Horse Track," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(1), pages 205-225, February.
    16. Meyer, Jack, 1987. "Two-moment Decision Models and Expected Utility Maximization," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(3), pages 421-430, June.
    17. Dupont, D.P., 1993. "Price Uncertainty,Expectations Formation and Fishers' Allocation Choice," Working Papers 1993-1, Brock University, Department of Economics.
    18. Matthew Rabin & Richard H. Thaler, 2002. "Response [Anomalies: Risk Aversion]," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 16(2), pages 229-230, Spring.
    19. Daniel S. Holland & Jon G. Sutinen, 2000. "Location Choice in New England Trawl Fisheries: Old Habits Die Hard," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 76(1), pages 133-149.
    20. Olof Johansson-Stenman & Fredrik Carlsson & Dinky Daruvala, 2002. "Measuring Future Grandparents" Preferences for Equality and Relative Standing," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 112(479), pages 362-383, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kerri Brick & Martine Visser & Justine Burns, 2012. "Risk Aversion: Experimental Evidence from South African Fishing Communities," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(1), pages 133-152.
    2. Tomomi Tanaka & Colin F. Camerer & Quang Nguyen, 2006. "Preferences, Poverty and Politics: Experimental and Survey Data from Vietnam," Levine's Bibliography 321307000000000054, UCLA Department of Economics.
    3. Ehmke, Mariah & Lusk, Jayson & Tyner, Wallace, 2010. "Multidimensional tests for economic behavior differences across cultures," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 37-45, January.
    4. Ruth Beatriz Mezzalira Pincinato & Frank Asche & Atle Oglend, 2020. "Climate change and small pelagic fish price volatility," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 161(4), pages 591-599, August.
    5. Sultan, Riad, 2020. "Fishing location choice and risk preferences among small fishers – Implications for fisheries management policies," African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, African Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 15(2), June.
    6. Cooper, Rachel & Jarre, Astrid, 2017. "An Agent-based Model of the South African Offshore Hake Trawl Industry: Part II Drivers and Trade-offs in Profit and Risk," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 257-267.
    7. Johnson, Ayana Elizabeth & Saunders, Daniel Kaiser, 2014. "Time preferences and the management of coral reef fisheries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 130-139.
    8. Frank Asche & Andreea L. Cojocaru & Ruth B. M. Pincinato & Kristin H. Roll, 2020. "Production Risk in the Norwegian Fisheries," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 75(1), pages 137-149, January.
    9. Tromeur, Eric & Doyen, Luc & Tarizzo, Violaine & Little, L. Richard & Jennings, Sarah & Thébaud, Olivier, 2021. "Risk averse policies foster bio-economic sustainability in mixed fisheries," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    10. Nguyen, Quang, 2009. "Do fishermen have different preferences?: Insights from an experimental study and household data," MPRA Paper 16012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Eggert, Håkan & Tveterås, Ragnar, 2004. "Potential Rent and Overcapacity in the Swedish Baltic Sea Trawl Fishery," Working Papers in Economics 152, University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics.
    12. Hynes, Stephen & Gerritsen, Hans & Breen, Benjamin & Johnson, Mark, 2015. "Fishing site choice modelling using Vessel Monitoring System data," Working Papers 262592, National University of Ireland, Galway, Socio-Economic Marine Research Unit.
    13. Sami Dakhlia & Akbar Marvasti, 2020. "Regulatory Change, Market Structure, and Fatalities: The Case of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 57(1), pages 1-26, August.
    14. Gelcich, Stefan & Edwards-Jones, Gareth & Kaiser, Michel J., 2007. "Heterogeneity in fishers' harvesting decisions under a marine territorial user rights policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 246-254, March.

    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. Kerri Brick & Martine Visser & Justine Burns, 2012. "Risk Aversion: Experimental Evidence from South African Fishing Communities," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 94(1), pages 133-152.
    2. Jonathan Chapman & Erik Snowberg & Stephanie Wang & Colin Camerer, 2022. "Looming Large or Seeming Small? Attitudes Towards Losses in a Representative Sample," CESifo Working Paper Series 9820, CESifo.
    3. Nguyen, Quang, 2009. "Do fishermen have different preferences?: Insights from an experimental study and household data," MPRA Paper 16012, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Stefano DellaVigna, 2009. "Psychology and Economics: Evidence from the Field," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(2), pages 315-372, June.
    5. Simon Gächter & Eric J. Johnson & Andreas Herrmann, 2022. "Individual-level loss aversion in riskless and risky choices," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 92(3), pages 599-624, April.
    6. Dohmen, Thomas, 2014. "Behavioral labor economics: Advances and future directions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 71-85.
    7. Hwang, In Do, 2021. "Prospect theory and insurance demand: Empirical evidence on the role of loss aversion," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    8. Booij, Adam S. & van de Kuilen, Gijs, 2009. "A parameter-free analysis of the utility of money for the general population under prospect theory," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 651-666, August.
    9. Håkan Eggert & Ragnar Tveteras, 2004. "Stochastic Production and Heterogeneous Risk Preferences: Commercial Fishers' Gear Choices," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 86(1), pages 199-212.
    10. Gächter, Simon & Johnson, Eric J. & Herrmann, Andreas, 2007. "Individual-Level Loss Aversion in Riskless and Risky Choices," IZA Discussion Papers 2961, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    11. Martin Smith & James Wilen, 2005. "Heterogeneous and Correlated Risk Preferences in Commercial Fishermen: The Perfect Storm Dilemma," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 53-71, July.
    12. Jonathan Chapman & Erik Snowberg & Stephanie Wang & Colin Camerer, 2018. "Loss Attitudes in the U.S. Population: Evidence from Dynamically Optimized Sequential Experimentation (DOSE)," NBER Working Papers 25072, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Laura Schechter, 2007. "Risk aversion and expected-utility theory: A calibration exercise," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 67-76, August.
    14. Marcoul, Philippe & Weninger, Quinn, 2008. "Search and active learning with correlated information: Empirical evidence from mid-Atlantic clam fishermen," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1921-1948, June.
    15. repec:cup:judgdm:v:8:y:2013:i:3:p:214-235 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Hwang, In Do, 2024. "Behavioral aspects of household portfolio choice: Effects of loss aversion on life insurance uptake and savings," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 1029-1053.
    17. Eyal Ert & Ido Erev, 2010. "On the Descriptive Value of Loss Aversion in Decisions under Risk," Harvard Business School Working Papers 10-056, Harvard Business School.
    18. Mohammed Abdellaoui & Han Bleichrodt & Corina Paraschiv, 2007. "Loss Aversion Under Prospect Theory: A Parameter-Free Measurement," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 53(10), pages 1659-1674, October.
    19. Eduard Marinov, 2017. "The 2017 Nobel Prize in Economics," Economic Thought journal, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences - Economic Research Institute, issue 6, pages 117-159.
    20. Neszveda, G., 2019. "Essays on behavioral finance," Other publications TiSEM 05059039-5236-42a3-be1b-3, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    21. Daniel Gottlieb & Olivia S. Mitchell, 2020. "Narrow Framing and Long‐Term Care Insurance," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 87(4), pages 861-893, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Expected utility; Prospect theory; Risk preferences; Stated preferences; Swedish fisheries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • Q22 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Renewable Resources and Conservation - - - Fishery

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hhs:gunwpe:0090. 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: Jessica Oscarsson (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/naiguse.html .

    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.