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Risky choices over goods

Patrick DeJarnette

Journal of Risk and Uncertainty2026https://doi.org/10.1007/s11166-026-09477-xarticle
AJG 3ABDC A*
Weight
0.50

Abstract

This paper examines how risk preferences differ over goods and in-kind monetary rewards, such as gift cards. I conduct an experiment in which control subjects allocate self-selected Amazon.com goods over uncertain states, whereas treated subjects allocate temporally-restricted Amazon.com credit instead. Under perfect information, I prove allocations would be theoretically identical between these groups without assumptions on utility form or risk preferences. In practice, subjects demonstrate considerable differences, with credit allocations 4 times more likely to be riskless. Using an information treatment where subjects browse Amazon.com for an extended time, I find no evidence that price or product uncertainty explains these differences. An additional experiment demonstrates these differences do not exist in a risk-free environment requiring real effort in exchange for credit or goods, further indicating the differences are not driven by uncertainty regarding the utility value of monetary credit.

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https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11166-026-09477-x

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@article{patrick2026,
  title        = {{Risky choices over goods}},
  author       = {Patrick DeJarnette},
  journal      = {Journal of Risk and Uncertainty},
  year         = {2026},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s11166-026-09477-x},
}

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Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.