The Knowledge Ahead Approach to Risk

The joint work of Robin Pope, Johannes Leitner and Ulrike Leopold- Wildburger presented in this little book makes a strong point for a new approach to decision making under risk. It emphasizes aspects of risk preferences largely neglected in the theoretical and experimental lite- ture. Before the outcome of a risky decision is known a decision maker may feel worries or thrills about what will happen at the end. It is c- vincingly argued that the anticipation of such ”secondary satisfactions” is, and should be, an important in? uence on the decision. The questi- naire data and the experiments support this view. The answers of participants in the questionnaires about the reasons for their decision are an important basis for the evaluation of the - periment. The evaluation of these questionnaires has led to impressive ? ndings. Like other commonly used research techniques, the analysis of introspective information in questionnaires is not absolutely reliable. Nevertheless it is an extremely valuable source of insight into moti- tional forces, insu? ciently exploited in economics. It is not my task to give a preview of the book, but I would like to encourage the reader to discover the remarkable results of an unusual theoretical and experimental approach to decision making under risk. K¨ onigswinter, Germany, August 2006 Reinhard Selten Preface In this book we break new ground on why and how people decide on - surancecontracts, ando? erafewinsightsonhowthecontextofterrorism may a? ect such demand. Our ? ndings are suggestive also for decisions under risk in other situations.