Heterogeneity in Risky Choice Behaviour in a Broad Population
CentER Discussion Paper Series No. 2009-12
38 Pages Posted: 17 Feb 2009
There are 2 versions of this paper
Heterogeneity in Risky Choice Behaviour in a Broad Population
Date Written: February 12, 2009
Abstract
We analyse risk preferences using an experiment with real incentives in a representative sample of 1,422 Dutch respondents. Our econometric model incorporates four structural parameters that vary with observed and unobserved characteristics: Utility curvature, loss aversion, preferences towards the timing of uncertainty resolution, and the propensity to choose randomly rather than on the basis of preferences. We find that all four parameters contribute to explaining choice behaviour. The structural parameters are significantly associated with socio-economic variables, but it is essential to incorporate unobserved heterogeneity in each of them to match the rich variety of choice patterns in the data.
Keywords: risk aversion, loss aversion, uncertainty resolution, field experiments
JEL Classification: C90, D81
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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