Differences In Risk Preferences Research Articles

Convergence of Age Differences in Risk Preference, Impulsivity, and Self-Control: A Multiverse Analysis.

Numerous theories exist regarding age differences in risk preference and related constructs, yet many of them offer conflicting predictions and fail to consider convergence between measurement modalities or constructs. To pave the way for conceptual clarification and theoretical refinement, in this preregistered study we aimed to comprehensively examine age effects on risk preference, impulsivity, and self-control using different measurement modalities, and to assess their convergence. We collected a large battery of self-report, informant-report, behavioral, hormone, and neuroimaging measures from a cross-sectional sample of 148 (55% female) healthy human participants between 16 and 81 years (mean age = 46 years, SD = 19). We used an extended sample of 182 participants (54% female, mean age = 46 years, SD = 19) for robustness checks concerning the results from self-reports, informant-reports, and behavioral measures. For our main analysis, we performed Specification Curve Analyses to visualize and estimate the convergence between the different modalities and constructs. Our multiverse analysis approach revealed convergent results for risk preference, impulsivity, and self-control from self- and informant-reports, suggesting a negative effect of age. For behavioral, hormonal and neuroimaging outcomes, age effects were mostly absent. Our findings call for conceptual clarification and improved operationalization to capture the putative mechanisms underlying age-related differences in risk preference and related constructs.

Risk Attitudes and Personality Traits Among Investors in Funds

How do an investor’s thoughts and feelings influence their behavior? Financial institutions must assess the risk attitudes of investors to ensure investors are being recommended appropriate financial products. This study is a further examination into whether risk attitudes are correlated with personality traits and to determine the risk attitudes of investors from different backgrounds. The risk attitudes of investors were examined according to the Big Five personality traits. Investor personality traits were linked to their investment decisions and risk attitudes. Differences in risk attitudes between investors from different backgrounds were also explored. A questionnaire survey was administered. Investors with fund investment experience were recruited. Correlations were observed between the Big Five personality traits and risk attitudes. Extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to new experiences were positively correlated with risk attitudes, and neuroticism was inversely correlated with risk attitudes. These results indicated direct relationships between the Big Five personality traits and risk attitudes. This study also revealed significant differences in risk preferences between gender, marital status, discretionary budget, fund investment experience, and risk profile. The study results provide a broader reference for establishing investment risk profile charts that integrate personality traits into behavioral finance models in financial practices.

Gender Differences in Risk Preferences and Insurance Choices

Purpose: The general purpose of the study was to examine gender differences in risk preferences and insurance choices.
 Methodology: The study adopted a desktop research methodology. Desk research refers to secondary data or that which can be collected without fieldwork. Desk research is basically involved in collecting data from existing resources hence it is often considered a low cost technique as compared to field research, as the main cost is involved in executive’s time, telephone charges and directories. Thus, the study relied on already published studies, reports and statistics. This secondary data was easily accessed through the online journals and library.
 Findings: The findings reveal that there exists a contextual and methodological gap relating to gender differences in risk preferences and insurance choices. The study provided valuable insights into the complex dynamics shaping individuals' attitudes towards risk and insurance decisions. Through comprehensive analysis, it confirmed significant gender disparities in risk preferences, with men generally exhibiting higher levels of risk tolerance compared to women. Additionally, it revealed that women demonstrated a greater propensity to purchase insurance coverage, contrary to traditional stereotypes. The study emphasized the importance of considering intersectionality in understanding gender disparities in insurance access and highlighted the role of behavioral economics in influencing decision-making processes. Overall, the findings underscored the need for targeted interventions and policy initiatives to address gender-based disparities in insurance access and promote financial well-being across diverse populations.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: Social Role theory, Behavioural Economics and Feminist theory may be used to anchor future studies on risk preferences and insurance choices. The study made several recommendations to address gender disparities in risk management and insurance access. It suggested the development of targeted financial education programs, gender-sensitive insurance products, and regulatory measures to promote gender equality in insurance coverage. Additionally, the study emphasized the importance of fostering diversity and inclusion within the insurance industry and continuing research to monitor progress over time. By implementing these recommendations, stakeholders aimed to create more inclusive and equitable insurance markets, enhancing financial security and well-being for all individuals.
 Keywords: Gender Differences, Risk Preferences, Insurance Choices, Financial Education, Gender-Sensitive, Regulatory Measures, Diversity, Inclusion, Equity

Eliciting risk preferences: is a single item enough?

Economists and psychologists frequently use single-item measures of risk preferences despite potential limitations in reliability and criterion validity compared to their multi-item counterparts. This can be particularly problematic when individual differences in risk preferences are used to predict real-world economic, health, and financial outcomes. In this paper, we compare a popular single-item measure of risk preference, the General Risk Question (GRQ), to multi-item measures of domain-general and specific risk preference measures. In a two-wave survey study of 434 adults, we found that the GRQ had good psychometric reliability and converged with other multi-item measures of risk preferences. The GRQ also exhibited a similar pattern of associations with other personality and demographic variables as compared to multi-item measures. However, the predictive validity of the GRQ was lower than multi-item measures for most of the outcomes examined. The GRQ also explained less incremental variance for real-world outcomes over the Big Five personality traits than the multi-item counterparts. Although the GRQ is a construct-valid measure of risk preferences, researchers should nonetheless consider the trade-off between survey efficiency and predictive efficacy when deciding whether a single item is enough.

Does board gender diversity affect firms’ expected risk?

PurposeThis study aims to explore the impact of board gender diversity on firms’ forward-looking risk, as perceived by both the firm’s management and its investors. The authors seek to understand whether the presence of female directors and the consequent enhancement of board dynamics can influence a firm’s risk profile.Design/methodology/approachThe authors use firms’ cash holdings and option implied volatility as proxies for future risk. The approach involves a rigorous analysis that accounts for potential concerns related to selection bias, endogeneity, heteroskedasticity and serial correlation. The authors further substantiate the findings through robustness checks, including a dynamic panel system general method of moment test and a Heckman correction model.FindingsThe results reveal an inverse relationship between board gender diversity and firms’ expected risk. The findings suggest that the primary driver of this risk reduction is the improvement in the group dynamics of the board that comes with increased gender diversity. This implies that gender diverse boards can significantly influence a firm’s risk management and financial performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe results indicate that gender diverse firms have economically and statistically significantly less expected risk and have better financial performance than firms with less board gender diversity. This has important implications for the organization of corporate boards.Practical implicationsIf the addition of female directors alters the risk aversion of the board, then management may be compelled to alter their investment and production decisions that, ultimately, affects firms’ profitability. In addition, the authors investigate whether changes to firm risk is due to gender differences in risk preferences or to an improvement in the group dynamics of the board.Social implicationsThe empirical results suggest that the effect of board gender diversity on firms’ expected risk and financial performance may be due to an improvement in the collective intelligence of the board, as a result of more gender diversity, and not due to gender differences in risk preferences.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this work is the first to study the effect of board gender diversity on firms’ future risk.

Reference-Point Theory: An Account of Individual Differences in Risk Preferences.

We propose an account of individual differences in risk preferences called "reference-point theory" for choices between sure things and gambles. Like most descriptive theories of risky choice, preferences depend on two drivers-hedonic sensitivities to change and beliefs about risk. But unlike most theories, these drivers are estimated from judged feelings about choice options and gamble outcomes. Furthermore, the reference point is assumed to be the less risky option (i.e., sure thing). Loss aversion (greater impact of negative change than positive change) and pessimism (belief the worst outcome is likelier) predict risk aversion. Gain seeking (greater impact of positive change than negative change and optimism (belief the best outcome is likelier) predict risk seeking. But other combinations of hedonic sensitivities and beliefs are possible, and they also predict risk preferences. Finally, feelings about the reference point predict hedonic sensitivities. When decision makers feel good about the reference point, they are frequently loss averse. When they feel bad about it, they are often gain seeking. Three studies show that feelings about reference points, feelings about options and feelings about outcomes predict risky choice and help explain why individuals differ in their risk preferences.

Individual risk preference as a predictor of health behaviour: evidence from the use of condoms against HIV/AIDS in Ghana

BackgroundIt is evident that public health education interventions to promote the use of condoms against HIV infections in Ghana have yielded modest results. However, existing studies in the field of sexual and reproductive health in Ghana have failed to account for differences in risk preferences of individuals. This study fills the gap by investigating how individuals' risk preferences predict their behaviour toward using condoms against HIV in Ghana.MethodConceptually, the study followed the Grossman health capital theoretical model for risk preference and health behaviour nexus. Data were obtained from the most recent Ghana Living Standards Survey Round 7 (GLSS 7), conducted in 2017. Using data from GLSS 7, a probit regression model was estimated to show how the risk preferences of individuals that did not abstain from sex predicted their use of condoms against HIV. To ensure robustness, two scenarios of declared risk preferences were used to predict the use of condom behaviour against HIV.ResultsProbit regression estimation shows that the risk preferences of individuals that did not abstain from sex significantly predicted their use of condoms against HIV in Ghana. Even though the study found that the predicted probability of using a condom reduces among risk-averse individuals that do not abstain from sex, not using a condom against HIV was found to be worse among risk lovers.ConclusionThe study provides empirical evidence that public health education against HIV/AIDS in Ghana cannot continue to ignore the risk preference of individuals. The results of this study have immediate implications, first for a comprehensive and continuous measurement of risk preferences among Ghanaians in major household surveys going forward. At the moment, the latest round of the GLSS is just about the only household survey in Ghana that has attempted to collect some data on individual time and risk preferences using only hypothetical monetary rewards. Second is the immediate consideration of individual risk preferences in public health education campaigns against HIV/AIDS in Ghana.

Decentralized response as a pandemic second‐best: The case of Russia

AbstractCentralized state response is almost universally considered as the first best option for managing pandemics. This paper argues that in reality, states fall short of this ideal. Knowledge problems hinder the government's disease acknowledgement, resource allocation and feedback, while compulsion, political predation, and corruption exacerbate the situation further. On the other hand, a decentralized, voluntary response may overcome knowledge problems and opportunism through effective signals such as prices, better incentives, local knowledge, and internalization of disease‐related externalities. This results in a speedier, more effective, and responsive pandemic management, which also accounts for differences in risk preferences, and becomes a feasible second‐best option. I then apply these insights to Russia and its history of disease management. I focus on three diseases: plague, cholera, and COVID‐19, which results in a historical analysis that spans multiple centuries and different institutional settings. I show that government‐led pandemic response in Russia has been riddled with knowledge problems, abuse, political predation, and violence. On the other hand, a decentralized response was quicker and more effective at managing the disease, often emerging even in the most unfavorable circumstances.

How to ask twenty questions and win: Machine learning tools for assessing preferences from small samples of willingness-to-pay prices

Subjective value has long been measured using binary choice experiments, yet responses like willingness-to-pay prices can be an effective and efficient way to assess individual differences risk preferences and value. Tony Marley’s work illustrated that dynamic, stochastic models permit meaningful inferences about cognition from process-level data on paradigms beyond binary choice, yet many of these models remain difficult to use because their likelihoods must be approximated from simulation. In this paper, we develop and test an approach that uses deep neural networks to estimate the parameters of otherwise-intractable behavioral models. Once trained, these networks allow for accurate and instantaneous parameter estimation. We compare different network architectures and show that they accurately recover true risk preferences related to utility, response caution, anchoring, and non-decision processes. To illustrate the usefulness of the approach, it was then applied to estimate model parameters for a large, demographically representative sample of U.S. participants who completed a 20-question pricing task — an estimation task that is not feasible with previous methods. The results illustrate the utility of machine-learning approaches for fitting cognitive and economic models, providing efficient methods for quantifying meaningful differences in risk preferences from sparse data.

Gender pay gap in American CFOs: Theory and evidence

Studies document persistent unexplained gender-based wage gap in labor markets. At the executive level, where skill and education are similar, career interruptions and differences in risk preferences primarily explain the extant gender-based pay gap. This study focuses on CFO compensation contracts of Execucomp firms (1992–2020) and finds no gender-based pay gap. This paper offers several explanations for this phenomenon, such as novel evidence on the risk preferences of females with financial expertise and changes in the social and regulatory climate.

A research on incentive method of investment linkage based on the perspective of quantum game

In the investment linkage, there are differences in risk preference and interest distribution between the investment institutions that provide investment and commercial banks that provide venture loan. Therefore, there are differences between the two sides in the strategic choice of whether to carry out investment and loan linkage. Currently, investment linkage has not been effectively promoted in China. Quantum game expands the strategy set and introduces the concept of entanglement. This paper aims to provide policy suggestions for effectively encouraging the third-party investment institutions and commercial banks to carry out investment and loan linkage through this new game perspective.

Exploring critical risk factors for Green Building projects in developing countries: The case of Vietnam

Green Buildings (GB) have been continuing to grow in line with the sustainability trend worldwide. However, GB projects frequently involve more risks than conventional projects due to their adoption of innovative sustainability technology. Consequently, risk management (RM) is more complicated and necessary for GB projects compared with conventional projects, especially in developing countries with few GB risk studies. As a first effort, this research aimed to explore risk factors that GB projects frequently confront in Vietnam. First, the 53 risk factors were identified by reviewing previous studies and interviewing industry professionals. A questionnaire was then developed to collect data from 207 construction professionals to assess the importance of GB risk factors. The result provided a ranking list of GB risks and their corresponding evaluations. Next, exploratory factor analysis was conducted and revealed the six most influential risk components: (1) human resource and technical risk in the construction phase, (2) performance risk in the operation phase, (3) human resource risk in the design phase, (4) financial risk, (5) regulation and complexity risk, and (6) material risk. Also, this research found no differences in risk preferences among various roles in GB projects. These findings provided insight into GB risks that can be useful for practitioners and future research. The final contribution included discussions on critical risks and suggestions for further research directions.

Gender Differences, Framing, and Responsibility in Investment Decision-Making: An Experimental Study

Research aims: This study aims to investigate the effect of gender, framing, and responsibility on investment decision-making. Design/Methodology/Approach: This experimental study used a subject design of 2 x 2 x 2, in which 81 doctoral students participated. Furthermore, cross-tabulation was employed to analyze and examine the hypotheses.Research findings: The results revealed that positive and negative framing and responsibility levels would affect investment decision-making. This research also uncovered differences in risk preferences in decision-making between men and women. Additionally, both genders had varying preferences in making similar decisions.Theoretical contribution/Originality: Several studies have shown that when information is presented differently, here in after referred to as framing, it significantly influences decisions. However, the decision-making determination is influenced not only by framing but also by other variables. In this study, the framing variable, therefore, was tested jointly with the variables of responsibility and gender differences.

Local slow-wave activity over the right prefrontal cortex reveals individual risk preferences

In everyday life, we have to make decisions under varying degrees of risk. Even though previous research has shown that the manipulation of sleep affects risky decision-making, it remains unknown whether individual, temporally stable neural sleep characteristics relate to individual differences in risk preferences. Here, we collected sleep data under normal conditions in fifty-four healthy adults using a portable high-density EEG at participants’ home. Whole-brain corrected for multiple testing, we found that lower slow-wave activity (SWA, an indicator of sleep depth) in a cluster of electrodes over the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) is associated with higher individual risk propensity. Importantly, the association between local sleep depth and risk preferences remained significant when controlling for total sleep time and for time spent in deep sleep, i.e., sleep stages N2 and N3. Moreover, the association between risk preferences and SWA over the right PFC was very similar in all sleep cycles. Because the right PFC plays a central role in cognitive control functions, we speculate that local sleep depth in this area, as reflected by SWA, might serve as a dispositional indicator of self-regulatory ability, which in turn reflects risk preferences.

Female workers, male managers: Gender, leadership, and risk‐taking

AbstractThis study examines gender differences in risk‐taking behavior among managers in a female‐dominated industry. Using data from international top‐level women's soccer, we provide evidence that on average, male coaches show a lower level of risk‐taking than female coaches. We also find a U‐shaped age effect that is independent of gender, meaning that young and more mature individuals tend to take riskier decisions. Our main results therefore strongly contrast with the majority of previous studies on gender differences in risk preferences, and thereby emphasize the importance of considering institutional differences or labor market specifics. Underlying selection processes may play an important role as well as gender stereotypes. Lastly, we find no correlation between gender differences in risk‐taking and female empowerment defined by national gender equality scores.

Smart But Scared: The Risk-Ability Tradeoff in Entrepreneurship

Policymakers around the world are eager to promote innovative entrepreneurship, but the formation of such businesses relies on founders' high intellectual ability. I show that high ability is associated with less extreme risk preferences: those of lower ability are more likely to be highly risk tolerant. Risk aversion is thus likely to be a greater barrier to entry into entrepreneurship for the most cognitively skilled, and may partly explain why the founder of the average incorporated business is not the best and brightest. It is possible that lowering the risk inherent in new ventures may attract higher ability founders with the skills to start an innovative business. In addition, while there are observed differences in risk preferences between men and women, they explain only 13-15% of the gender gap in entrepreneurship.

Are Female CFOs Different? Evidence from Gender Pay Gaps

Studies document an unexplained wage gap between male and female workers even as female workers have increased their human capital through skill and education. At the executive level, where skill and education are similar, the results on gender-based pay gap persist and are primarily attributed to career interruptions and differences in risk preferences. Tracing the compensation contracts of Execucomp firms (1992-2018), this study observes a nonexistent gap in compensation between genders among CFOs. In fact, female CFOs earn more than male CFOs in the later sample years. This paper offers several explanations for this phenomenon e.g. new evidence on risk preferences of females with financial expertise and changes in the social and regulatory climate.

Sea Level Rise and Portfolio Choice

Many households face uninsurable background risks due to future sea level rise (SLR). Using detailed local variation in SLR exposure and disaggregated geographic information on households in the United States, I show that SLR exposed households participate less in the stock market compared to their unexposed counterparts within the same neighborhood. This effect is driven by long-run SLR risks as opposed to short-run flood risks and is elevated at times when attention to climate change is high. I provide causal evidence of the effect of SLR risks on household portfolio choices by exploiting plausibly exogenous variation stemming from the adoption of state-led climate change adaptation plans that reduced households' SLR risks. Additional tests isolate the effect of SLR exposure as a background risk from alternative explanations, including changes in house prices, past flooding experiences, endogenous location choices, political beliefs, or differences in risk preferences.

Individual and dyadic continuous risk-based decision making: Changes and differences

We used the Balloon Analogue Risk Task to study the changes and differences in risk preference between individuals and dyads in successive loss and gain contexts. Regardless of who was making the decision, the degree of risk taking after the first gain was significantly higher than that after the first loss, whereas the degree of risk taking after successive gains was significantly lower than that after successive losses. Further, risk preference increased after successive losses, and the increase was smaller for a dyad than for an individual, meaning the dyad’s decision making was more rational. Participants’ risk preference decreased after successive gains, and the extent of the decrease was larger for a dyad than that for an individual, meaning that individuals’ decision making was more rational. These findings indicate that the rational performance of both individuals and dyads in continuous risk decision making varies according to their gains or losses.

农耕-游牧文化下风险偏好的差异：证据与分析框架

农耕-游牧文化下风险偏好的差异：证据与分析框架