Is risk attitude really specific within the health context domain? Further evidence from an Italian survey using probability equivalent technique and face-to-face interviews

Abstract

Individuals' risk attitude is an important concept within the health domain. A previous study showed that risk attitude varied across health outcomes, life years and quality of life. The aim of this article is to improve the elicitation methods used in that study and to provide further evidence of whether risk attitude varies within the health domain. The elicitation method was improved by using the probability equivalent method rather than the certainty equivalent method, by using face-to-face interviews rather than web-based questionnaires and by omitting financial incentives which may be more attractive to individuals who are risk seeking. In line with the previous study, this article shows that risk attitude varies across the health domain. However, in the current study, risk attitude for the two life years gambles were very similar and the majority of the participants were risk averse. In the previous study, risk attitude varied across these two gambles with the majority of individuals being risk averse with respect to the gamble involving immediate death but risk seeking with respect to the other life years gamble.