Six months after JRP members’ 19-country replication study of Prospect theory was published in Nature Human Behaviour, it is still part of the discussion on loss aversion.

In an interview with the syndicated American economics news programme Marketplace, JRP Executive Director Kai Ruggeri explains why we avoid risks when it comes to gains but are willing to take a risk to avoid losses. In the interview, experts explain how the concept has been used to explain human behaviour in the context of buying stocks, choosing meals from a menu, or insuring a trip.

Ever since Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman’s work was published in 1979, loss aversion has been a pervasive theory in behavioural economics, marketing, and even in the medical literature. Forty years later, our researchers replicated patterns from the original paper on an international scale. We are delighted to see our work again contribute to this discussion.

If you’re curious to read more about the topic, click here for the whole interview.