{"id":16670,"date":"2012-08-06T14:19:04","date_gmt":"2012-08-06T14:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/http\/www.econlib.org\/the-interaction-between-status-quo-bias-and-signaling\/"},"modified":"2018-06-20T17:43:45","modified_gmt":"2018-06-20T21:43:45","slug":"the-interaction-between-status-quo-bias-and-signaling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html","title":{"rendered":"The Interaction Between Status Quo Bias and Signaling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Human beings suffer from status quo bias<\/a>: When they face different default options, they make different choices.\u00a0 Offering “a burger and fries for $10, with $3 off without the fries” is economically equivalent to “a burger for $7, and fries for $3.”\u00a0 But the two offers are not psychologically<\/i> equivalent, and a restaurant will sell more fries using the first framing.<\/p>\n

The same goes for, say, marriage.\u00a0 “Divorce is tough, unless you check the ‘easy divorce’ box” is economically equivalent to “Divorce is easy, unless you check the ‘tough divorce’ box.”\u00a0 But it’s pretty obvious that these alternate default rules will noticeably affect behavior.\u00a0 If tough divorce is the default, more people will opt for tough divorce; if easy divorce is the default, more people will opt for easy divorce.<\/p>\n

Notice, however, that there’s a key dis<\/i>anlogy between buying lunch and getting married: when you buy lunch, you (usually) just want something to eat; you’re (usually) not trying to make a good impression on other people.\u00a0 When you marry, however, you’re clearly<\/i> trying to make a good impression on other people.\u00a0 At the bare minimum, you’re trying to make a good impression on your spouse-to-be.\u00a0 In most cases, you’re also trying to make a good impression on your spouse’s family.<\/p>\n

Now suppose that when they marry, 75% of people go with the default rule for divorce.\u00a0 In “tough divorce” states, 75% opt for tough divorce; in “easy divorce” states, 75% opt for easy divorce.\u00a0 What should you conclude about the degree of commitment of your spouse-to-be when he proposes easy divorce or tough divorce?\u00a0 It depends on your state’s default rule<\/i>!<\/p>\n

Degree of Commitment Signaled by Your Spouse-to-Be<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Default Divorce Rule<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Expressed Preference of
\nSpouse-to-Be<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Easy <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Hard <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Easy <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

bottom
\n75%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

bottom
\n25%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Hard <\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

top 25%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

top 75%<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

If you live in an easy divorce state, asking for easy divorce is only a moderately negative signal.\u00a0 You’re putting yourself in the bottom 75% of commitment.\u00a0 But if you live in a hard divorce state, asking for easy divorce is a seriously negative signal.\u00a0 You’re putting yourself in the bottom 25%<\/i> of commitment.<\/p>\n

The same goes when your spouse-to-be asks for hard divorce.\u00a0 In an easy divorce state, this is a seriously positive signal.\u00a0 He puts himself in the top 25% of commitment.\u00a0 In a hard divorce state, in contrast, this is only a moderately positive signal.\u00a0 Asking for hard divorce when hard divorce is the default puts you in the top 75% of commitment.<\/p>\n

The lesson: status quo bias and signaling interact in a surprising way.\u00a0 When status quo bias makes a signal more common, sending that signal says less about you, and not<\/i> sending that signal says more about you.*\u00a0 Making something the status quo doesn’t just change our behavior; it changes what a given <\/i>behavior communicates to our fellow men.<\/p>\n

* This abstracts from people’s generic desire to signal conformity<\/a>, which complicates matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Human beings suffer from status quo bias: When they face different default options, they make different choices.\u00a0 Offering “a burger and fries for $10, with $3 off without the fries” is economically equivalent to “a burger for $7, and fries for $3.”\u00a0 But the two offers are not psychologically equivalent, and a restaurant will sell […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,116],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[5597],"class_list":["post-16670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-behavioral-economics","category-information-goods-intellectual-property"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Interaction Between Status Quo Bias and Signaling - Econlib<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Interaction Between Status Quo Bias and Signaling - Econlib\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Human beings suffer from status quo bias: When they face different default options, they make different choices.\u00a0 Offering “a burger and fries for $10, with $3 off without the fries” is economically equivalent to “a burger for $7, and fries for $3.”\u00a0 But the two offers are not psychologically equivalent, and a restaurant will sell […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Econlib\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-08-06T14:19:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-20T21:43:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bryan Caplan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bryan Caplan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bryan Caplan\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/#\/schema\/person\/59df52ad307c4f21a4382d0227ee7b2b\"},\"headline\":\"The Interaction Between Status Quo Bias and Signaling\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-08-06T14:19:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-06-20T21:43:45+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html\"},\"wordCount\":476,\"articleSection\":[\"Behavioral Economics\",\"Information Goods, Intellectual Property\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blue-sea-697d.quartiers047.workers.dev:443\/https\/www.econlib.org\/archives\/2012\/08\/the_interaction.html\",\"name\":\"The Interaction Between Status Quo Bias and Signaling - 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