Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/273678 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
Working Papers in Economics and Statistics No. 2022-05
Publisher: 
University of Innsbruck, Research Platform Empirical and Experimental Economics (eeecon), Innsbruck
Abstract: 
We investigate whether the presence of a default interacts with the willingness of decision-makers to gather, process and consider information. In an online experiment, where about 2,300 participants choose between two compiled charity donation options worth $100, we vary the availability of information and the presence of a default. Information avoidance, when possible, increases default effects considerably, manifesting a hitherto undocumented channel of the default bias. Moreover, we show that defaults trigger motivated reasoning: In the presence of a default - even if self-selected-, participants consider new information to a lower degree than without a preselected option.
Subjects: 
Motivated reasoning
information avoidance
defaults
status quo
charitable giving
experiment
JEL: 
C90
D64
D83
D91
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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