Are Risk Aversion and Impatience Related to Cognitive Ability?
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Dohmen, Thomas
Falk, Armin
Huffman, David
Sunde, Uwe
Abstract / Description
Is the way that people make risky choices, or tradeoffs over time, related to cognitive ability? This paper investigates whether there is a link between cognitive ability, risk aversion, and impatience, using a representative sample of the population and incentive compatible measures. We conduct choice experiments measuring risk aversion, and impatience over an annual time horizon, for a randomly drawn sample of roughly 1,000 German adults. Subjects also take part in two different tests of cognitive ability, which correspond to sub-modules of one of the most widely used IQ tests. Interviews are conducted in subjects' own homes. We find that lower cognitive ability is associated with greater risk aversion, and more pronounced impatience. These relationships are significant, and robust to controlling for personal characteristics, educational attainment, income, and measures of credit constraints. We perform a series of additional robustness checks, which help rule out other possible confounds.
Keyword(s)
Risiko Kognition Fähigkeit Feldexperiment Risiko Kognition Fähigkeit Feldexperiment risk preference time preference cognitive ability field experimentPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2007
Is part of series
Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;2735
Citation
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dp2735.pdfAdobe PDF - 427.28KBMD5: 6494ad0dda95525fba1aff828b32382e
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Dohmen, Thomas
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Falk, Armin
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Huffman, David
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Sunde, Uwe
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2022-11-17T11:03:06Z
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Made available on2008-06-03
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Made available on2015-12-01T10:32:10Z
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Made available on2022-11-17T11:03:06Z
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Date of first publication2007
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Abstract / DescriptionIs the way that people make risky choices, or tradeoffs over time, related to cognitive ability? This paper investigates whether there is a link between cognitive ability, risk aversion, and impatience, using a representative sample of the population and incentive compatible measures. We conduct choice experiments measuring risk aversion, and impatience over an annual time horizon, for a randomly drawn sample of roughly 1,000 German adults. Subjects also take part in two different tests of cognitive ability, which correspond to sub-modules of one of the most widely used IQ tests. Interviews are conducted in subjects' own homes. We find that lower cognitive ability is associated with greater risk aversion, and more pronounced impatience. These relationships are significant, and robust to controlling for personal characteristics, educational attainment, income, and measures of credit constraints. We perform a series of additional robustness checks, which help rule out other possible confounds.en
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Persistent Identifierhttps://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bsz:291-psydok-16382
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11780/1096
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.8977
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Language of contenteng
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Is part ofIZA Discussion Paper Series No. 2735
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Is part of seriesForschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit/ Institute for the Study of Labor: IZA Discussion Paper Series;2735
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Keyword(s)Risikode
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Keyword(s)Kognitionde
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Keyword(s)Fähigkeitde
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Keyword(s)Feldexperimentde
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Keyword(s)Risikode
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Keyword(s)Kognitionde
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Keyword(s)Fähigkeitde
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Keyword(s)Feldexperimentde
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Keyword(s)risk preferenceen
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Keyword(s)time preferenceen
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Keyword(s)cognitive abilityen
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Keyword(s)field experimenten
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleAre Risk Aversion and Impatience Related to Cognitive Ability?en
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DRO typereport
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Visible tag(s)PsyDok