The Multivariate Heterogeneous Preference Estimator for Switching Multiple Price Lists

Speaker: Peter Moffatt
Affiliation: University of East Anglia​​​​​​​
Location: School of Economics Boardroom, Level 6, Colin Clark Building (#39), UQ St Lucia Campus 

Abstract

The Multiple Price List (MPL) and Switching Multiple Price List (sMPL) provide a useful framework for estimating preference parameters, most usually risk aversion, from a sample of experimental subjects or survey respondents.  In this paper, we consider designs in which more than one sMPL is presented to each subject, allowing more than one preference parameter to be estimated simultaneously, and we propose a consistent estimator in this setting - the Multivariate Heterogeneous Preference (MHP) estimator.  Focusing on the bivariate case of two sMPLs and two preference parameters, we demonstrate that non-standard econometric techniques, namely Monte Carlo integration with importance sampling, are required to implement the MHP estimator. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we verify that the estimator is consistent and has good finite-sample properties. Finally, we apply the MHP estimator to a real data set and compare the estimates to those obtained using an inconsistent estimator applied in previous studies

About the speaker

Peter Moffatt is Professor of Econometrics in the School of Economics.  His research specialism is Experimetrics, that is, the econometric analysis of data from Economic Experiments.  He is author of the 2015 textbook Experimetrics published by Palgrave Macmillan, and is renowned for delivering Masterclasses in Experimetrics all over the world.  He also has research interests in other areas such as the study of risk attitude using data from large surveys, analysis of the repayment performance of bank borrowers, and the theory of the consumer.