On Extreme Perception Bias

Authors

Emerico Habacon Aguilar, Osaka University, JapanFollow
Klarizze Martin Puzon, Osaka University, Japan & Center for Environmental and Resource Economics, Sweden
Imelda Revilla Molina, University of the Philippines-Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines

JEL Classification System

D90, D91, Z10

Abstract

This note investigates perception bias: To what extent do individual opinions confound reality? We estimated the relative gap between self-declared estimates and real data. With a sample of respondents from Laguna, Philippines, we asked about the prevalence of diabetes and smartphone usage. We observed a trend of judgment miscalibration. Responses exhibit significant deviation from facts; for example, inaccuracies can go as high as seven times the real value. Especially for estimates on smartphone ownership, bootstrapped quantile regression models showed that perception bias is associated with age.

Recommended Citation

Aguilar, Emerico Habacon; Puzon, Klarizze Martin; and Molina, Imelda Revilla (2020) "On Extreme Perception Bias," DLSU Business & Economics Review: Vol. 29: No. 2, Article 8.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59588/2243-786X.1134
Available at: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/ber/vol29/iss2/8