IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/beexfi/v19y2018icp84-88.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A test of the relevant association between utility theory and subjective risk tolerance: Introducing the Profit-to-Willingness ratio

Author

Listed:
  • Heo, Wookjae
  • Grable, John E.
  • Rabbani, Abed G.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to document the empirical linkage between an objective risk tolerance utility function and a subjective risk tolerance scale. This study utilized return data from 2008 through 2013 for the S&P 500 as a proxy for the objective risk tolerance utility function and risk tolerance data obtained from a multidimensional psychometrically designed financial risk tolerance scale. Results from this study add to the literature by introducing the Profit-to-Willingness ratio (P/W ratio) and by showing investments in the stock market exhibit strong associates with the risk attitudes and preferences of investors. It was determined that an increase in the S&P 500 was associated with a decrease in aggregate risk tolerance during the period of analysis, whereas a decrease in the index increased willingness to take financial risk during the same period.

Suggested Citation

  • Heo, Wookjae & Grable, John E. & Rabbani, Abed G., 2018. "A test of the relevant association between utility theory and subjective risk tolerance: Introducing the Profit-to-Willingness ratio," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 84-88.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:19:y:2018:i:c:p:84-88
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbef.2018.05.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214635018300893
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbef.2018.05.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kumari, Jyoti & Mahakud, Jitendra, 2015. "Does investor sentiment predict the asset volatility? Evidence from emerging stock market India," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 25-39.
    2. Grable, John & Lytton, Ruth H., 1999. "Financial risk tolerance revisited: the development of a risk assessment instrument," Financial Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 8(3), pages 163-181.
    3. Michael Kirchler & David Andersson & Caroline Bonn & Magnus Johannesson & Erik Ø. Sørensen & Matthias Stefan & Gustav Tinghög & Daniel Västfjäll, 2017. "The effect of fast and slow decisions on risk taking," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 37-59, February.
    4. Harry Markowitz, 1952. "Portfolio Selection," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 7(1), pages 77-91, March.
    5. Michaelides, Alexander & Zhang, Yuxin, 2017. "Stock Market Mean Reversion and Portfolio Choice over the Life Cycle," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 1183-1209, June.
    6. Hoffmann, Arvid O.I. & Post, Thomas & Pennings, Joost M.E., 2013. "Individual investor perceptions and behavior during the financial crisis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 60-74.
    7. Catalina Amuedo-Dorantes & Susan Pozo, 2002. "Precautionary Saving by Young Immigrants and Young Natives," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 69(1), pages 48-71, July.
    8. Tversky, Amos & Kahneman, Daniel, 1992. "Advances in Prospect Theory: Cumulative Representation of Uncertainty," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 5(4), pages 297-323, October.
    9. Hong Chao & Chun-Yu Ho & Xiangdong Qin, 2017. "Risk taking after absolute and relative wealth changes: The role of reference point adaptation," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 157-186, April.
    10. Shlomo Benartzi & Richard Thaler, 2007. "Heuristics and Biases in Retirement Savings Behavior," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 81-104, Summer.
    11. Robert B. Barsky & F. Thomas Juster & Miles S. Kimball & Matthew D. Shapiro, 1997. "Preference Parameters and Behavioral Heterogeneity: An Experimental Approach in the Health and Retirement Study," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 537-579.
    12. Holzmeister, Felix, 2017. "oTree: Ready-made apps for risk preference elicitation methods," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(C), pages 33-38.
    13. Kamstra, Mark J. & Kramer, Lisa A. & Levi, Maurice D. & Wermers, Russ, 2017. "Seasonal Asset Allocation: Evidence from Mutual Fund Flows," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(1), pages 71-109, February.
    14. Anderson, Anders & Dreber, Anna & Vestman, Roine, 2015. "Risk taking, behavioral biases and genes: Results from 149 active investors," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 93-100.
    15. Lusardi, Annamaria, 1998. "On the Importance of the Precautionary Saving Motive," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(2), pages 449-453, May.
    16. Mohammed Abdellaoui & Han Bleichrodt & Olivier L’haridon & Dennie van Dolder, 2016. "Measuring Loss Aversion under Ambiguity: A Method to Make Prospect Theory Completely Observable," Post-Print halshs-01242616, HAL.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yao, Zheying & Rabbani, Abed G., 2021. "Association between investment risk tolerance and portfolio risk: The role of confidence level," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    2. Rabbani, Abed G. & Yao, Zheying & Wang, Christina, 2019. "Does personality predict financial risk tolerance of pre-retiree baby boomers?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 124-132.
    3. Wookjae Heo & Abed G. Rabbani & Jae Min Lee, 2021. "Mediation between financial risk tolerance and equity ownership: assessing the role of financial knowledge underconfidence," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 169-180, September.
    4. Wang, WuChang & Zhang, Yi & Li, YuXing & Hu, Qihui & Liu, Chengsong & Liu, Cuiwei, 2022. "Vulnerability analysis method based on risk assessment for gas transmission capabilities of natural gas pipeline networks," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 218(PB).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hwang, In Do, 2024. "Behavioral aspects of household portfolio choice: Effects of loss aversion on life insurance uptake and savings," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 89(PA), pages 1029-1053.
    2. Swarn Chatterjee, 2009. "Immigrants Have Lower Participation Rates In U.S. Financial Markets?," The International Journal of Business and Finance Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 3(2), pages 1-13.
    3. Grable, John E. & Lyons, Angela C. & Heo, Wookjae, 2019. "A test of traditional and psychometric relative risk tolerance measures on household financial risk taking," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 8-13.
    4. Luik, Marc-André & Steinhardt, Max Friedrich, 2016. "Immigrant-native differences in stockholding – The role of cognitive and non-cognitive skills," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(PA), pages 103-119.
    5. Xie, Yuxin & Tang, Ruohua & Pantelous, Athanasios A. & Lu, Xiaomeng, 2024. "Narrow framing and under-diversification: Empirical evidence from Chinese households," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    6. Mulligan, Karen & Baid, Drishti & Doctor, Jason N. & Phelps, Charles E. & Lakdawalla, Darius N., 2024. "Risk preferences over health: Empirical estimates and implications for medical decision-making," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    7. Chatterjee, Swarn & Palmer, Lance & Goetz, Joseph, 2012. "Individual wealth accumulation: Why does dining together as a family matter?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 8(2), pages 1-22.
    8. Essig, Lothar, 2005. "Precautionary saving and old-age provisions : do subjective saving motives measures work?," Papers 05-22, Sonderforschungsbreich 504.
    9. Colasante, Annarita & Riccetti, Luca, 2020. "Risk aversion, prudence and temperance: It is a matter of gap between moments," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(C).
    10. Kumar, Satish & Rao, Sandeep & Goyal, Kirti & Goyal, Nisha, 2022. "Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance: A bibliometric overview," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(C).
    11. Wolfgang Breuer & Michael Riesener & Astrid Juliane Salzmann, 2014. "Risk aversion vs. individualism: what drives risk taking in household finance?," The European Journal of Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(5), pages 446-462, May.
    12. Insoo Cho & Peter F. Orazem, 2021. "How endogenous risk preferences and sample selection affect analysis of firm survival," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1309-1332, April.
    13. Cardak, Buly A. & Martin, Vance L., 2023. "Household willingness to take financial risk: Stockmarket movements and life‐cycle effects," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Goytom Abraha Kahsay & Daniel Osberghaus, 2018. "Storm Damage and Risk Preferences: Panel Evidence from Germany," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 71(1), pages 301-318, September.
    15. Hooi Hooi Lean & Michael McAleer & Wing-Keung Wong, 2013. "Risk-averse and Risk-seeking Investor Preferences for Oil Spot and Futures," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2013-31, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico, revised Aug 2013.
    16. Jacobs, Heiko & Müller, Sebastian & Weber, Martin, 2014. "How should individual investors diversify? An empirical evaluation of alternative asset allocation policies," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 62-85.
    17. Moshe Levy & Haim Levy, 2013. "Prospect Theory: Much Ado About Nothing?," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 7, pages 129-144, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    18. Groneck, Max & Ludwig, Alexander & Zimper, Alexander, 2016. "A life-cycle model with ambiguous survival beliefs," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 137-180.
    19. Leković Milјan, 2020. "Cognitive Biases as an Integral Part of Behavioral Finance," Economic Themes, Sciendo, vol. 58(1), pages 75-96, March.
    20. Jonathan Chapman & Erik Snowberg & Stephanie Wang & Colin Camerer, 2018. "Loss Attitudes in the U.S. Population: Evidence from Dynamically Optimized Sequential Experimentation (DOSE)," NBER Working Papers 25072, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:beexfi:v:19:y:2018:i:c:p:84-88. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-behavioral-and-experimental-finance .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.