A Reference Price Theory of the Endowment Effect

@article{Weaver2012ARP,
  title={A Reference Price Theory of the Endowment Effect},
  author={Ray Weaver and Shane Frederick},
  journal={Journal of Marketing Research},
  year={2012},
  volume={49},
  pages={696 - 707}
}
The common finding that selling prices exceed buying prices (the so-called endowment effect) is typically explained by the assumptions that consumers evaluate potential transactions with respect to their current holdings and that the owners of a good regard its potential loss to be more significant than nonowners regard its potential acquisition. In contrast to this “pain-of-losing” account, the authors propose that the endowment effect reflects a reluctance to trade on terms that appear… 
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References

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People tend to value objects more simply because they own them. Prior research indicates that people underestimate the impact of this endowment effect on both their own and other people’s…
Mispredicting the endowment effect:: Underestimation of owners’ selling prices by buyer’s agents
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