The Role of Individual Risk Attitudes on Old Wine Valuations

Abstract

In this article, we report the results of an experiment designed to address the effect of risk attitudes on valuations of aged wines. We find that higher risk taking in the economic domain is associated with a significantly higher willingness to pay for an old wine. Given the increasing interest of consumers and investors in old wines, our results are applicable to the pricing of old wines and to the use of auctions as an efficient willingness to pay elicitation mechanism. (JEL Classifications: C91, D44, L66)

Full text

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The$role$of$individual$risk$attitudes$on$old$wine$valuations1$
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Nikolaos$Georgantzis2$and$Jean-Christian$Tisserand3$$
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Abstract:!In!this!paper,!we!report!results!from!an!experiment!designed!to!address!the!effect!
of!risk!attitudes!on!valuations!of!aged!wines.!We!find!that!higher!risk-taking!in!the!economic!
domain!is!associated!with!a!significantly!higher!willingness!to!pay!for!an!old!wine.!Given!the!
increasing!interest!of!consumers!and!investors!in!old!wines,!our!results!are!applicable!to!the!
pricing!of!old!wines!and!to!the!use!of!auctions!as!an!efficient!WTP!elicitation!mechanism.!
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JEL$classifications:$L66,!D44,!C91.$
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Keywords:$Wine!economics;!Risk!attitudes;!Auctions.!
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1!We!would!like!to!thank!the!anonymous!referee!and!those!present!at!the!presentation!of!
this!article!to!AAWE!2019!for!their!valuable!comments.!
2!CEREN,!EA!7477,!School!of!Wine!&!Spirits!Business,!29!rue!Sambin,!21000!Dijon,!France!-!
LEE!and!Department!of!Economics,!Universitat!Jaume!I,!Castellòn,!Spain,!E-mail!:!
nikos.georgantzis@bsb-education.com.!
3!Corresponding!author.!CEREN,!EA!7477,!School!of!Wine!&!Spirits!Business,!29!Rue!Sambin,!
21000!Dijon,!France!-!Swiss!Distance!Learning!University!(UniDistance),!Überlandstrasse!12,!
Postfach!265!CH-3900!Brigue,!E-mail:!jean-christian.tisserand@bsb-education.com.!!

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1. Introduction!
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Properly! stored! wine! ages! to! a! superior! product! up! to! a! moment! at! which! it! rapidly!
deteriorates.!In!specific!cases!in!which!the!aging!process!has!not!been!controlled!by!the!seller,!
the!effect!of!time!on!wine!quality!becomes!even!more!uncertain.!A!trendy!cava-wine!bar!in!
Dijon,!France4,!has!recently!decided!to!resell!old!wine!which!it!purchased!from!private!sellers.!
Recognizing! the! uncertainty! entailed! in! the! lack! of! control! over! the! product’s! life! until! it!
reached!the!shop’s!shelves,!the!owner!fixed!a!unique!price!(25€)!for!all!the!wines,!informing!
their!customers!that! the! quality! of!aging!process!could!not! be! guaranteed.! In!the!concrete!
case!of!that!specific!bar,!after!all!bottles!were!sold,!the!ex!post!share!of!“bad”!wine!was!10%.!
Wine!expert!estimations!vary,!but!most!of!them!expect!that!less!than!10%!of!wines!improve!
after!1!year!and!no!more!than!1%!of!wines!keep!improving!after!10!years.!While!aging!cheap!
wines!will!most!likely!result!in!a!deterioration!of!the!wine’s!quality,!some!types!of!wines!might!
improve!their! quality! over! decades!if!properly!stored.! Wines! that!are!made!to! be! aged!are!
nevertheless!rather!the!exception!than!the!rule!and!most!of!wines!quickly!reach!their!optimal!
age!of!consumption.!Of! course,!several!tips!can!be! used!in! order!to!identify!a!wine! that!did!
not!age!well.!For!example,!if!the!space!between!the!cork!and!the!wine!is!too!long,!this!could!
be!a!sign!that!the!wine!has!oxidized!or!evaporated!through!the!cork.!Even!though!a!bottle!of!
aged!wine!doesn’t!show!any!sign!of!bad!quality,!the!taste!of!the!wine!that!is!inside!is!not!
guaranteed,!except!maybe!for!high!skilled!connoisseurs!who!have!a!very!good!knowledge!of!
the! product.! That! said,! even! if! knowledge! of! the! product! certainly! makes! it! possible! to!
minimize!the!risk,!there!is!no!such!thing!as!zero!risk!in!the!case!of!aged!wines!and!there!is!still!
a!higher!or!lower!probability!that!the!content!of!the!bottle!has!turned!sour.!!
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4!Look!for!details!at:!http://www.pharmacy.vin/en/.!

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The!aforementioned!value!formation!process!and!the! decisions!involved!in!the!resale!of!old!
wine!resemble!those!of!a!risky!financial!asset!which!is!gradually!increasing!its!value!until!the!
bubble!explodes! causing!losses!to!the!asset’s! owners!(Noparumpa!et!al.,!2015)5.! Given!that!
financial! assets! are! not! as! tangible! as! wine,! there! are! few! guarantees! about! the! optimal!
moment!at!which!the!owner!should!sell.!The!link!between!old!wine!valuations!and!individual!
buyers’!risk!attitudes!becomes!then!very!likely!to!exist.!Riskier!buyers!should!be!willing!to!pay!
more!than!risk-averse!ones!for!old!wine!and!the!effect!should!be!stronger!for!older!wines.!The!
relevance!of! addressing!this!hypothesis! is!twofold:!first,! the!optimal!prices! of!old!wine! may!
depend!on!the!buyers’!risk!attitudes;!second,!we!can!assess!the!external!validity!of!in-lab!risk!
elicitation! instruments! using! a! tangible! asset,! whose! value! uncertainty! originates! in! an!
uncontrolled!process,!naturally!occurring!out!of!the!lab.!!
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Risk!is!subjective!in!nature!and!its!perception!involves!many!factors! including!psychological,!
social!and!cultural!factors.!The!study!of!risk!perception!mostly!implies!examining!the!opinions!
that!individuals!express!when!they!have!to! evaluate! more! or! less! risky! activities! in! various!
ways.!A!large! number! of! studies!have!focused!on!the! perception! of! risk!(mainly!monetary)!
across!different!categories!of!individuals.!Different!individuals!will!react!in!various!ways!to!
comparable! uncertain! circumstances.! Psychologists! and! economists! have! conducted!
numerous!experiments! in!order!to! identify!risk-taking!and!risk! averse!people’s!profiles!(see!
for!example!Holt! and!Laury,!2002!and!reviews! by!Andersen!et!al.!2006,! Charness!et!al.!2013!
and! Attanasi! et! al.! 2018).! These! experiments! have! allowed! us! to! learn! more! about! the!
perception!of!risk!by!different!types!of! individuals.! For! example,! we! know! that! women! on!
average,!have!a!significantly!higher!risk! perception! than! men! (García! Gallego! et! al.,! 2012).!
With!regard!to!education/training,!the!majority!of!studies!agree!that!more!educated!people!
are!also!the!least!risk-averse.!On!the!other!hand,!age,!which!is!also!one!of!the!variables!that!
have!attracted!particular!interest,!does!not!seem!to!be!correlated!with!a!certain!type!of!risk!
preference.!
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5!This!is!especially!likely!to!happen!when!the!consumption!of!the!wine!peters!out!(Jovanovic,!
2007).!
Commenté [JT1]: highly!recommended:!
AAWE!Working!Paper!No.!32!–!Economics!
Bubbles!in!Prices!of!Exhaustible!Resources!
Boyan!Jovanovic!

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Despite!the!large!number! of!studies!conducted!on!the! subject!for! more!than!40!years!now,!
the! literature! remains! silent! about! the! link! between! individual! risk! attitudes! and! wine!
valuation.! Exceptionally,! Georgantzis! and! Navarro! (2010)! report! a! negative! effect! of! risk!
aversion!on!a! consumer’s! valuation! of! a!wine!whose!quality! is! unknown! at! the!moment!of!
valuation.!According!to! this! result,! risk! preferences! elicited!in!the!laboratory!are! externally!
valid!and! useful! to!predict!how! wine!quality!uncertainty!will! affect!the!valuation! of! a!wine,!
depending!on!risk!attitudes!elicited!in!the!monetary!domain.!This!positive!result!concerning!
the!external!validity!of!risk!elicitation!measures!is!confirmed!and!extended!here!in!a!domain!
in!which!uncertainty!is!particularly!present!and!relevant!for!consumer!choice,!namely,!in!the!
market!for!aged! wines.! Therefore,! our! study!contributes!to!a!long! ongoing! debate! (see! for!
example,!Weber!et!al.!2002,!Vieider!et!al.!2015,!and!Attanasi!et!al.!2018,!Levy-Garboua!et!al.!
2012)! concerning! the! validity! of! risk! preferences! elicited! through! one! instrument! in! one!
particular!domain!for!preferences!revealed!in!other,!more!or!less!distant!domains.!!!!
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In! this! paper,! we! are! interested! in! the! risk! attitude! of! different! types! of! consumers! when!
buying! aged! wines.! The! link! between! a! person's! WTP! for! a! vintage! wine! and! her! attitude!
towards!uncertainty!is!rather!straightforward.!Consider!a!mean-variance!model!of!risk-taking.!
The!person!wants!to!pay!no!more!than!the!market!valuation!of!the!wine.!Let!us!hypothesize!
that!when!the!wine! becomes! older! a! variance! is! added! to! the! value! of! the! wine,! with! the!
"good"!outcome! of!a!well!aging!wine! growing!over!time! and!the!bad!outcome!being! rather!
stable!and!bounded!from!below!by!the!(dis)utility!from!opening!a!bottle!of!"vinegar".!In!this!
case!a!more!risk!averse!person!will!be!more!affected!by!this!variance!and!will!be!willing!to!pay!
less,!while!a!risk!loving!person!will!be!more!attracted!by!the!possibility!of!an!excellent!aged!
wine.!
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This!laboratory!experiment!has!been!run!with!65!participants!with!different!profiles.!During!
this!experiment,!participants! had! the!opportunity!to!declare! their! willingness! to!pay!for!20!
bottles! of! aged! wine! by! spending! the! money! they! were! allocated! at! the! beginning! of! the!
experiment.! In! another! phase! of! the! experiment,! the! subjects! also! completed! a! paid! risk!
aversion!test,!and!finally!completed!a!questionnaire!to!collect!some!personal!information!that!
we!considered!relevant!to!refine!our!statistical!analysis.!In!particular,!the!results!of!our!study!
show! that! greater! appetite! for! monetary! risk! is! correlated! with! a! significantly! higher!

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willingness!to!pay!for!over-aged!wines.!Also,!self-assessed!wine!knowledge!as!well!the!WSET!
level!of!the!subject!is!associated!with!a!significant!increase!in!willingness!to!pay.!!
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The!remainder!of! the!article!is!organized!as!follows.!In!section!2!we!present!the! experiment!
procedure!as!well!as!the!experimental!material!we!used!to!record!the!data.!Section!3!provides!
a!description!of!the!data!and!variable.!The!results!are!presented!and!discussed!in!section!4.!
Section!5!concludes.!!
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2. Experimental!procedures!
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The! experimental! sessions! took! place! at! the! School! of! Wine! &! Spirits! Business! in! Dijon!
between! September! 2017! and! December! 2018.! In! total,! four! experimental! sessions! were!
organized!with!65!subjects!with!different!profiles:!students!in!Wine!Business!from!the!School!
of!Wine!&!Spirits!Business,!management!students!from!the!Burgundy!School!of!Business!and!
professionals!from!various!fields!attending!to!a!visit!of!the!school.!Table!1!gives!an!overview!
of!the!number!of!sessions!and!subjects!of!each!type.!
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Type$of$subjects$
Total$number$of$subjects$
Number$of$sessions$
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Wine%students%%
30!
2!
Management%Students%
20!
1!
Professionals%
15!
1!
Table%1:%Sessions%information%
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The!subjects!received!an!invitation!to!the!experiment!by!email.!The!four!experimental!session!
consisted!of!25!subjects!each!and!lasted!approximately!one!hour.!!All!subjects!received!a!cash!
payment!at!the!end!of!the!experiment!and/or!a!bottle!of!wine!based!on!the!decisions!made!
during!the!experiment.!!
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The!experiment! was! divided! into! three! distinct!and! independent! stages.! In! the! first! stage,!
subjects!were!asked! to! make! four!consecutive!monetary!decisions!by! picking! their! favorite!
lottery!from!10!lotteries!in!each!of!the!four!separate!tables!presented!in!figure!1.!The!objective!
of!this!first!step!is!to!measure!the!participants'!monetary!risk!appetite!in!different!situations,!
with!varying! amounts! of! money! at! stake.! When! a! subject! is! risk! neutral,! he! or! she!should!
choose!the!lottery!with!the!highest!expected!gain,!i.e.!the!most!right-hand!lottery!in!each!of!
the!tables.!The!higher!the!risk!aversion!of!a!subject,!the!more!the!subject's!lottery!choice!will!
move! to! the! left! in! order! to! have! a! greater! chance! of! securing! a! gain.! At! the! end! of! the!
experiment,! one! out! of! the! four! panels! is! randomly! drawn! with! a! dice! in! front! of! the!
participants.!For!that!that!panel,!we!roll!a!10-sided!dice!to!determine!the!winning!choices!(10!
wins!it!all).!This!method!of!risk!elicitation!was!introduced!by!Sabater-Grande!and!Georgantzis!
(2002),!allowing! a! more!systematic!identification! of!the!effect!of! stakes!than!that! originally!
used!by!Holt!and!Laury!(2002).!!
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Figure%1:%%Risk%aversion%test%
In!the! second! phase! of! the! experiment,! all! subjects! start! with! an! endowment! of! 18! euros!
allowing! them! to! buy! the! different! real! bottles! of! wine! presented! to! them! during! the!
experiment.!If!the!subjects!do!not!spend!these!18!euros!during!the!experiment,!then!the!18!
euros! are! given! to! them! in! cash! at! the! end! of! the! experiment.! Subjects! are! aware! of! this!
information! before! starting! the! experiment.! In! this! step,! we! presented! 20! bottles! of! aged!

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wines!to!each!participant.!Participants!have!the!opportunity!to!inspect!the!bottles!one!by!one!
and!are!asked!to!write!down!in!individual!tables!(one!table!per!bottle)!the!price!they!are!willing!
to!pay!for! each! of! these!bottles!between!0! and! 18! euros,!in!increments!of!2! euros.! Before!
declaring!their!willingness!to!pay!for!any!of!the!wines,!subjects!are!told!that!“the!wines!had!
aged!under!uncontrolled!conditions!and!could!therefore!have!turned!sour,!or!still!be!as!good!
as!they!were”.!In!each!session!participants!are!assigned!to!a!group!of!3!or!4!participants!that!
is!not!revealed!before!the!end!of!the!experiment.!After!each!subject!has!announced!how!much!
she!is! willing!to!pay! for!all!of!the!bottles,! the!groups!are! revealed!and!each!group!of! 3!or!4!
participants!is!assigned!to!a!randomly!selected!bottle.!The!highest!bid!within!the!group!for!the!
bottle!that!has!been!randomly!drawn!wins!the!bottle!and!pays!the!announced!price!with!her!
endowment.!Participants!in!a!group!whose!bid!is!not!the!highest!keep!their!18!euros!in!cash!
at!the! end! of! the! experiment.! That!elicitation! method! allows! participant! to! have!their! full!
endowment!available!for!each!bottle.!Because!participant!do!not!know!which!bottle!is!going!
to!be!randomly!drawn!for!their!group,!their!best!choice!is!to!announce!their!actual!willingness!
to!pay!for!each!bottle.!Of!course,!this!point!was!clearly!explained!to!the!participants!before!
the!experiment! started!so!that! no! one!believes!she! has!to!split! her! 18!euros!among! the!20!
different!bottles.!Figure!1!shows!the!type!of!tables!subjects!had!to!fill!for!each!bottle.!!
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Figure%2:%%Decision%tables%
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Finally,! in! a! third! step,! we! asked! subjects! to! complete! a! questionnaire! including! personal!
questions! about! their! age,! sex,! nationality,! knowledge! of! wine! (WSET! level! and! 9! self-
assessment!questions).!More!information!about!the!questionnaire!itself!as!well!as!a!summary!
of!descriptive!statistics!of!these!variables!are!presented!in!the!next!section.!!

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3. Variables!and!data!analysis!!
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During! the! four! sessions,! we! collected! observations! about! the! subjects'! risk! aversion,!
willingness! to! pay! for! bottles! of! older! wines! aged! in! sub-optimal! conditions,! self-assessed!
knowledge!about!wine,! WSET! level,! age,!gender,!and!knowledge! of! the! wine! the!subject!is!
currently!rating.6! Table! 2! gives! an! overview! of! the! descriptive! statistics.! More! information!
about!the!self-reported!knowledge!in!wines!variable!is!available!in!appendix.!!
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%
Variable$
Description$of$the$
variable$
Average$value$
Standard$
deviation$
Min$
Max$
%
Bid%%
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Bid!of! a! subject!for!
a!wine!expressed!in!
euros!
!
5.30!
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!
!
3.90!
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!
0!
!
18!
Risk%Aversion%1%
Risk! aversion!
measured! from!
panel!1!from!1!to!10!!
3.94!
!
!
3.01!
1!
10!
Risk%Aversion%2%
Risk! aversion!
measured! from!
panel!2!from!1!to!10!!
!
3.71!
2.47!
1!
10!
Risk%Aversion%3%
Risk! aversion!
measured! from!
panel!3!from!1!to!10!!
!
3.81!
1.96!
1!
8!
Risk%Aversion%4%
Risk! aversion!
measured! from!
panel!3!from!1!to!10!!
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3.24!
1.92!
1!
7!
Average%risk%average%
Average!of!four!risk!
aversion!measures!
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3.68!
1.71!
1!
7.25!
WSET%
WSET! level! of! the!
subject!from!0!to!5!
!
0.61!
!
1.11!
0!
3!
Knowledge%
Self-reported!
knowledge!of!wines!
from!1!to!7!
!
3.95!
1.33!
2.40!
6.80!
Knowthiswine%
Dummy! variable!
equal! to! 1! if! the!
subject! knows! the!
wine! he! is!
evaluating!
0.42!
0.52!
0!
1!
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6!For!each!wine!subject!had!to!answer!if!they!know!this!wine.!We!control!for!the!fact!that!subject!know!the!wine!with!a!
dummy!variable!in!the!statistical!analysis.!!

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Gender%%
Dummy! variable!
equal! to! 1! if! the!
subject!is!a!woman!
!
0.62!
0.47!
0!
1!
Age%
Age!of!the!subject!
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25.7!
6.27!
18!
46!
Color%
Dummy! variable!
equal! to! 1! if! the!
wine!is!red!
!
0.60!
0.49!
0!
1!
Year%
Year! of! production!
of!the!wine!
!
2009!
2.11!
2004!
2012!
Alcoholcontent%
Alcohol! content! of!
the!wine!!
!
13.18!
0.46!
12.5!
14!
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Table%2:%descriptive%statistics%
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Given!the!high!number!of!censored!observations!(Willingness!to!pay!=!0)!and!the!sequential!
nature!of!the!declaration!of!willingness!to!pay!for!each!bottle,!estimates!are!made!with!a!tobit!
panel!model.!Results!are!shown!in!table!3.!
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Model!1!
Model!2!
Model!3!
Model!4!
Model!5!
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Average!risk!
-0.536***!
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!
!
!
!
(-6.40)!
!
!
!
!
Risk!panel!1!
!
-0.226***!
!
!
!
!
!
(-4.48)!
!
!
!
! !Risk!panel!2!
!
!
-0.384***!
!
!
!
!
!
(-6.65)!
!
!
Risk!panel!3!
!
!
!
-0.374***!
!
!
!
!
!
(-5.01)!
!
Risk!panel!4!
!
!
!
!
-0.200**!
!
!
!
!
!
(-2.45)!
Wine!student!
1.463***!
1.138***!
1.720***!
1.562***!
1.643***!
!
(3.65)!
(2.75)!
(4.27)!
(3.86)!
(3.99)!
Know!this!wine!
1.478***!
1.458***!
1.393***!
1.425***!
1.377***!
!
(4.82)!
(4.71)!
(4.55)!
(4.62)!
(4.42)!
Female!
-0.623**!
-0.637**!
-0.742**!
-0.642**!
-0.764!
!
(-2.07)!
(-2.09)!
(-2.47)!
(-2.11)!
(-2.50)!
Age!of!!subject!
-0.109***!
-0.0904***!
-0.114***!
-0.106***!
-0.0959***!
!
(-4.33)!
(-3.59)!
(-4.53)!
(-4.17)!
(-3.76)!
Knowledge!
-0.621***!
-0.620***!
-0.451***!
-0.658***!
-0.546***!
!
(-3.90)!
(-3.84)!
(-2.84)!
(-4.05)!
(-3.38)!
WSET!
-0.882***!
-0.683***!
-0.958***!
-0.871***!
-1.062***!
!
(-4.34)!
(-3.24)!
(-4.70)!
(-4.25)!
(-4.91)!
Red!wine!
0.0853!
0.101!
0.102!
0.0827!
0.131!
!
(0.29)!
(0.34)!
(0.34)!
(0.28)!
(0.43)!
Year!of!production!
-0.0111!
-0.0118!
-0.00719!
-0.00750!
-0.00881!
!
(-0.16)!
(-0.16)!
(-0.10)!
(-0.10)!
(-0.12)!
Alcohol!content!
-0.0461!
-0.0447!
-0.0400!
-0.0421!
-0.0339!
!
(-0.92)!
(-0.89)!
(-0.80)!
(-0.84)!
(-0.67)!
French!wine!
0.200!
0.206!
0.208!
0.204!
0.222!
!
(0.46)!
(0.47)!
(0.48)!
(0.47)!
(0.50)!
Cons!
34.52!
34.32!
25.59!
26.78!
27.99!
!
(0.24)!
(0.24)!
(0.18)!
(0.19)!
(0.19)!
Number!of!
observations!
1016!
1016!
1016!
1016!
1016!
T%statistics%in%parentheses,%*%p<0.1,%**%p<0.05,%***%p<0.01%
Table%3:%Estimates%from%the%tobit%panel%model%
!
The!results!we!obtain!highlight!several!interesting!relationships.!Subjects!report!a!significantly!
higher!willingness!to!pay! when!their!appetite!for!monetary!risk!is! higher.!This!result!is!valid!

!
11!
for!any!of!the!four!risk!aversion!variables,!as!well!as!the!average!risk!aversion.!The!coefficient!
associated!with!risk! aversion! estimation! from! panel! 4,! which! is! the! panel! with! the!highest!
stakes,!shows!a!weaker!significance.!This!result!is!not!so!surprising!since!the!highest!reward!
(100!euros)!of!this!panel!is!so!appealing!that!non!trivial!number!of!subjects!picked!this!option!
even!though!they!picked!much!safer!choices!in!previous!panels.!Interestingly,!while!old!wine-
related! uncertainty! and! monetary! risk! are! certainly! two! different! domains! involving! risky!
choices,!we! confirm!the!external! validity!of!in-lab!risk! elicitation!tools!like! the!lottery!panel!
test!adopted!here.!!
Subjects’!knowledge! about!wine! is!also!an! important!variable!of!their!willingness! to!pay!for!
aged!wines.!Subjects! with! higher! self-reported! knowledge! and!higher!WSET!level!show,! on!
average,!a!significantly!lower!willingness!to!pay!for!aged!wines.!This!result!might!highlight!the!
fact!that!people!with!lower!knowledge!overestimate! the!probability! that!an!over-aged!wine!
that!aged!under! uncontrolled!conditions!could!still!be!worth!consuming.!It!is!very!likely!that!
more!informed!subjects!about!wines!are!more!likely!to!know!this!information.!!
!
Finally,!results!show!that!wines’!characteristics!we!control!for!(year,!color,!degree!of!alcohol!
and!French!wine)!do!not!significantly!interfere!with!subjects’!willingness!to!pay.!This!result,!as!
surprising!as!it!might!be,!does!not!mean!that!wines’!characteristics!were!totally!irrelevant!to!
determine! subjects’! willingness! to! pay! in! this! experiment.! There! are! a! lot! of! other! wines’!
characteristics!such!as!the!grape!variety,!the!wine!producer,!the!region!of!origin,!the!style!of!
the!label!that! we!were!not!able!to!control!for!in!the!econometric!analysis!due!to!the!lack!of!
replicates!of!each!of!these!characteristics!in!our!wines!sample.!!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!

!
12!
4. Conclusion!
!
While!the!regulatory! environment! of! food! and! beverages!production!tends!to!harden!over!
time,!we!still!know!very!little!about!people’s!risk!preferences!towards!this!kind!of!products.!In!
this!study,!we! attempted! to! establish! a! statistical! relationship!between!subjects’!monetary!
risk!aversion!and!risk! preferences! toward! aged! wines.! For! that!purpose,!we!ran!laboratory!
experiments! with! 65! subjects! with! different! profiles! and! real! money.! Our! results! show! in!
particular! that! a! lower! risk! aversion! for! monetary! choices! is! associated! with! a! higher!
willingness!to! pay! for! risky! wines.! Also,!we! show! that! subjects’! knowledge! about! wines! in!
general!leads! to!a!significantly! lower!willingness!to!pay! for!aged!wines.! These!results!sheds!
new!light!on!wine!consumers’!behaviour,!especially!on!aged!wines!that!attract!an!increasing!
number!of!consumers!in!auctions.!!
!
Despite! interesting! results,! one! important! shortcoming! should! be! mentioned.! The! wine!
characteristics! we! included! in! the! statistical! analysis! were! not! enough! to! control! for! the!
attributes!of! the!wines!that! significantly!interfere!with! subjects’! willingness!to!pay! for!aged!
wines.!Even!though!we!were!aware!of!this!before!running!the!experiment,!the!pool!of!bottles!
we!had!access!to! for! the! experiment! was! not! large! enough! to! have!a!sufficient!number!of!
replicates!of!some!characteristics!(e.g,!different!wines!by!one!winemaker!in!order!to!identify!
winemakers!fixed!effects).!Also,!there!was!no!wine!that!had!a!special!reputation!for!aging!
really!well!in!the!sample!of!bottle!we!used.!!Even!though!these!discrepancies!do!not!question!
the! robustness! of! our! results! regarding! our! main! focus! which! is! the! relationship! between!
subjects’!monetary!risk!aversion!and!their!willingness!to!pay!for!aged!wines,!we!believe!the!
results!could!have!been!more!refined!and!informative!with!a!larger!sample!of!bottles!including!
replicates!of!some!characteristics!worth!of!interest.!We!nevertheless!remain!hopeful!that!our!
results!will!inspire!future!studies!and!open!the!path!for!further!research!on!this!this!topic.!
!
!
!
!
!
!

!
13!
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