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A test of traditional and psychometric relative risk tolerance measures on household financial risk taking

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  • Grable, John E.
  • Lyons, Angela C.
  • Heo, Wookjae

Abstract

This article provides a comparative test of two ways in which individual relative risk tolerance is commonly measured in research and practice. Results suggest that the popular method of measuring gambles across lifetime income provides less insight into household investment behavior than the psychometric approach that is often used to derive a risk profile measure.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finlet:v:30:y:2019:i:c:p:8-13
    DOI: 10.1016/j.frl.2019.03.012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. 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.
    2. Rui Yao & Angela Curl, 2011. "Do Market Returns Influence Risk Tolerance? Evidence from Panel Data," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 32(3), pages 532-544, September.
    3. Dwyer, Peggy D. & Gilkeson, James H. & List, John A., 2002. "Gender differences in revealed risk taking: evidence from mutual fund investors," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 151-158, July.
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    6. Harrison, Glenn W. & Lau, Morten I. & Ross, Don & Swarthout, J. Todd, 2017. "Small stakes risk aversion in the laboratory: A reconsideration," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 24-28.
    7. 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.
    8. Robert Faff & Terrence Hallahan & Michael McKenzie, 2009. "Nonlinear linkages between financial risk tolerance and demographic characteristics," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(13), pages 1329-1332.
    9. Arvid O. I. Hoffmann & Thomas Post & Joost M. E. Pennings, 2015. "How Investor Perceptions Drive Actual Trading and Risk-Taking Behavior," Journal of Behavioral Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(1), pages 94-103, January.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lu, Zhiqiang & Wu, Junjie & Li, Hongyu & Galloway, Brian, 2024. "Digital finance and stock market participation: The case of internet wealth management products in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 48(1).
    2. Kong, Hyeongwoo & Yun, Wonje & Kim, Woo Chang, 2023. "Tracking customer risk aversion," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    3. Rabbani, Abed G. & Grable, John E., 2022. "Can portfolio risk be described with estimates of financial risk tolerance calibration?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 46(PB).
    4. Zhang, Dongyang & Guo, Rui, 2020. "The consumption response to household leverage in China: The role of investment at household level," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    5. Wookjae Heo & John E. Grable & Abed G. Rabbani, 2020. "A test of the association between the initial surge in COVID-19 cases and subsequent changes in financial risk tolerance," Review of Behavioral Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 13(1), pages 3-19, August.
    6. Gächter, Ingo & Gächter, Martin, 2021. "Success factors in ICOs: Individual firm characteristics or lucky timing?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    7. John E. Grable & Wookjae Heo & Abed Rabbani, 2021. "Characteristics of random responders in a financial risk-tolerance questionnaire," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(1), pages 1-9, March.
    8. Heo, Wookjae & Rabbani, Abed & Grable, John E., 2021. "An Evaluation of the Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Risk Tolerance of Financial Decision Makers," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Risk aversion; Risk tolerance; Income gambles; Psychometric assessment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D9 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G41 - Financial Economics - - Behavioral Finance - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making in Financial Markets

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