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The Impact of Risk Attitudes on Financial Investments

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  • Hyll, Walter
  • Irrek, Maike

Abstract

Several scholars analyze the relationship between individuals' willingness to take risks and financial investment decisions. We add to this literature in using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel which allow ruling out that investments in risky assets itself impact on risk attitudes. We show that individuals with a higher willingness to take risks are more likely to hold bonds, stocks, and company assets. When grouping individuals into risk groups, our results reveal that high risk takers are also less likely to own a life insurance. If endogenous adaption of risk attitudes from holding assets in previous years is not taken into account, the impact of risk attitudes on holding risky assets is upward biased.

Suggested Citation

  • Hyll, Walter & Irrek, Maike, 2015. "The Impact of Risk Attitudes on Financial Investments," IWH Discussion Papers 10/2015, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iwhdps:iwh-10-15
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    risk attitudes; financial investment; portfolio choice; reverse causality; German Socio-Economic Panel;
    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
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions

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