The endowment effect and the inertia of the status quo [Der Endowment Effekt und das Beharrungsvermögen des Status quo]

The current paper discusses the endowment effect and sketches the corresponding theoretical and empirical literature. In particular, its role in explaining the disparity between willingness to pay and willingness to accept in field surveys and experiments is reviewed critically. Additionally, the paper points to the fact that the endowment effect can contribute to our understanding of tax evasion and help to explain the inertia within the economic and especially the political sector. © 2006, List-Gesellschaft e.V.