On the sunk-cost effect in economic decision-making: a meta-analytic review
Roth and colleagues meta-analysed ninety-eight effect sizes on the sunk cost effect and made a distinction the literature had been blurring. Decisions where money has already been spent come in two kinds: whether to use something already paid for, and whether to continue investing in something already begun. Separating them explains much of the apparent inconsistency in the field, because the effect behaves differently in each and so do the factors that moderate it. The effect is clearly present overall. In decisions about using what has been paid for, it weakens as time passes, which fits the everyday observation that an unused ticket stops compelling attendance once enough weeks have gone by. The review also reports that older adults are less prone to the effect than younger adults. This is the reference to cite for the size of the effect, in preference to any single experiment.
Roth and colleagues meta-analysed ninety-eight effect sizes on the sunk cost effect and made a distinction the literature had been blurring. Decisions where money has already been spent come in two kinds: whether to use something already paid for, and whether to continue investing in something already begun. Separating them explains much of the apparent inconsistency in the field, because the effect behaves differently in each and so do the factors that moderate it. The effect is clearly present overall. In decisions about using what has been paid for, it weakens as time passes, which fits the everyday observation that an unused ticket stops compelling attendance once enough weeks have gone by. The review also reports that older adults are less prone to the effect than younger adults. This is the reference to cite for the size of the effect, in preference to any single experiment.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
8, 99-138. Ninety-eight effect sizes; monetary sunk costs around d = 0.50. Source for the money-versus-time and decision-type moderators. Abstract only. The Many Labs figure is preferred for body copy because this pools a literature carrying publication bias.
Where we use it
- Why You Finish the Series You Stopped Enjoying, Why We Act
Reliability of this reference
The link below was matched against the publisher's record on title, first author and year, and all three agree.
The source
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40685-014-0014-8
DOI: 10.1007/s40685-014-0014-8