Risk Aversion Relates to Cognitive Ability: Preferences Or Noise?

A-Tier
Journal: Journal of the European Economic Association
Year: 2016
Volume: 14
Issue: 5
Pages: 1129-1154

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Recent experimental studies suggest that risk aversion is negatively related to cognitive ability. In this paper we report evidence that this relation may be spurious. We recruit a large subject pool drawn from the general Danish population for our experiment. By presenting subjects with choice tasks that vary the bias induced by random choices, we are able to generate both negative and positive correlations between risk aversion and cognitive ability. Our results suggest that cognitive ability is related to random decision making rather than to risk preferences.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:oup:jeurec:v:14:y:2016:i:5:p:1129-1154.
Journal Field
General
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-24