Publications
Publications
- 2009
- HBS Working Paper Series
Policy Bundling to Overcome Loss Aversion: A Method for Improving Legislative Outcomes
By: Katherine L Milkman, Mary Carol Mazza, Lisa L. Shu, Chia-Jung Tsay and Max H. Bazerman
Abstract
Policies that would create net benefits for society but would also involve costs frequently lack the necessary support to be enacted because losses loom larger than gains psychologically. To reduce this harmful consequence of loss aversion, we propose a new type of policy bundling technique in which related bills that have both costs and benefits are combined. Using a laboratory study, we confirm across a set of four legislative domains that this bundling technique increases support for bills that have both costs and benefits. We also demonstrate that this effect is due to changes in the psychology of decision making, rather than voters' willingness to compromise and support a bill they weakly oppose when that bill is bundled with one they strongly support.
Keywords
Citation
Milkman, Katherine L., Mary Carol Mazza, Lisa L. Shu, Chia-Jung Tsay, and Max H. Bazerman. "Policy Bundling to Overcome Loss Aversion: A Method for Improving Legislative Outcomes." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-147, June 2009. (Revised September 2009, December 2009.)