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On a Simple Survey Measure of Individual Risk Aversion

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  • Joop Hartog
  • Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell
  • Nicole Jonker

Abstract

We ask individuals for their reservation price of a specified lottery and deduce their Arrow-Pratt measure of risk aversion. This allows direct testing of common hy-poth-eses on risk atti-tudes in three datasets. We find that risk aversion indeed falls with income and wealth. Entre-preneurs are less risk averse than employees, civil servants are more risk averse than private sector employees, and women are more risk averse than men. We analyze six different specifications of the lottery question in a single data set and find quite consistent results. We conclude that a simple lottery ques-tion is a promising survey in-strument to extract differ-ences in risk attitudes among individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Joop Hartog & Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell & Nicole Jonker, 2000. "On a Simple Survey Measure of Individual Risk Aversion," CESifo Working Paper Series 363, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_363
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    Cited by:

    1. Roger Hartley & Gauthier Lanot & Ian Walker, 2014. "Who Really Wants To Be A Millionaire? Estimates Of Risk Aversion From Gameshow Data," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 861-879, September.
    2. André de Palma & Nathalie Picard, 2006. "Route Choice Behaviour with Risk-Averse Users," Chapters, in: Aura Reggiani & Peter Nijkamp (ed.), Spatial Dynamics, Networks and Modelling, chapter 7, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. de Palma, André & Picard, Nathalie, 2005. "Route choice decision under travel time uncertainty," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 295-324, May.
    4. André De Palma & Nathalie Picard, 2005. "Congestion on risky routes with risk adverse drivers," ERSA conference papers ersa05p423, European Regional Science Association.
    5. Anderson, Lisa R. & Mellor, Jennifer M., 2008. "Predicting health behaviors with an experimental measure of risk preference," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 1260-1274, September.
    6. Allan M. Williams & Vladimír Baláž, 2014. "Mobility, risk tolerance and competence to manage risks," Journal of Risk Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(8), pages 1061-1088, September.
    7. Nielsen, Jytte Seested & Bech, Mickael & Christensen, Kaare & Kiil, Astrid & Hvidt, Niels Christian, 2017. "Risk aversion and religious behaviour: Analysis using a sample of Danish twins," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 21-29.
    8. Eisenhauer, Joseph G., 2010. "Rank-ordering of risk preferences with conventional and discrete measures," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(3), pages 291-297, August.
    9. Mattijs Lambooij & Andreas Flache & Jacques Siegers, 2009. "Shadow of the Future, Risk Aversion, and Employee Cooperation," Rationality and Society, , vol. 21(3), pages 307-336, August.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • C81 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Data Collection and Data Estimation Methodology; Computer Programs - - - Methodology for Collecting, Estimating, and Organizing Microeconomic Data; Data Access

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