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Attitudes toward uncertainty among the poor: an experiment in rural Ethiopia

Author

Listed:
  • Alpaslan Akay
  • Peter Martinsson
  • Haileselassie Medhin
  • Stefan Trautmann
Abstract
We investigate risk and ambiguity attitudes among Ethiopian farmers in one of the poorest regions of the world. Strong risk aversion and ambiguity aversion were found with the Ethiopian farmers. We compared their attitudes to those of a Western university student sample elicited by the same decision task. Ambiguity aversion was similar for farmers and students, but farmers were more risk averse. Our results show that ambiguity aversion is not restricted to Western student populations, and that studies of agricultural decisions may benefit from explicitly considering ambiguity attitudes. Copyright The Author(s) 2012

Suggested Citation

  • Alpaslan Akay & Peter Martinsson & Haileselassie Medhin & Stefan Trautmann, 2012. "Attitudes toward uncertainty among the poor: an experiment in rural Ethiopia," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 73(3), pages 453-464, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:theord:v:73:y:2012:i:3:p:453-464
    DOI: 10.1007/s11238-011-9250-y
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk attitudes; Ambiguity attitudes; Poverty; Agriculture; D81; C93; O12;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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