Editing Status quo bias (section)

===Behavioral economics and the default position===
Against this background, two [[Behavioral economics|behavioral economists]] devised an opt-out plan to help employees of a particular company build their retirement savings. In an opt-out plan, the employees are automatically enrolled unless they explicitly ask to be excluded. They found evidence for status quo bias and other associated effects.<ref name="save more">{{cite journal|last=Thaler|first=Richard H.|author2=Shlomo Benartzi |title=Save More Tomorrow: Using Behavioural Economics to Increase Employee Saving|journal=Journal of Political Economy|year=2004|volume=112|pages=164–187|doi=10.1086/380085|citeseerx=10.1.1.495.8552|s2cid=2379566}}</ref> The impact of defaults on decision making due to status quo bias is not purely due to subconscious bias, as it has been found that even when disclosing the intent of the default to consumers, the effect of the default is not reduced.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Reisch|first1=Lucia A.|last2=Zhao|first2=Min|date=November 2017|title=Behavioural economics, consumer behaviour and consumer policy: state of the art|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S2398063X1700001X/type/journal_article|journal=Behavioural Public Policy|language=en|volume=1|issue=2|pages=190–206|doi=10.1017/bpp.2017.1|issn=2398-063X|hdl=10398/01e85b29-3d75-4be3-95dc-d256ad5dd947|s2cid=158160660|hdl-access=free}}</ref>

An experiment conducted by Sen Geng, regarding status quo bias and decision time allocation, reveal that individuals allocate more attention to default options in comparison to alternatives. This is due to individuals who are mainly risk-averse who seek to attain greater expected utility and decreased subjective uncertainty in making their decision. Furthermore, by optimally allocating more time and asymmetric attention to default options or positions, the individual's estimate of the default's value is consequently more precise than estimates of alternatives. This behaviour thus reflects the individual's asymmetric choice error, and is therefore an indication of status quo bias.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Geng |first=Sen |title=Decision Time, Consideration Time, and Status Quo Bias |date=8 July 2015 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecin.12239 |journal=Economic Inquiry |language=en |volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=433–449 |doi=10.1111/ecin.12239 |s2cid=153199766 |via=Wiley Online Library|url-access=subscription }}</ref>