Eliciting the Endowment Effect under Assigned Ownership

Abstract

In this study we present evidence that endowment effect can be elicited merely by assigned ownership. Using Google Customer Survey, we administered a survey were participants (n=495) were randomly split into 4 groups. Each group was assigned ownership of either legroom or their ability to recline on an airline. Using this experiment setup we were able to generate endowment effect, a 15-20x (at p<0.05) increase between participant's willingness to pay (WTP) and their willingness to accept (WTA).