Arbeitspapier

Lifecycle Patterns in the Socioeconomic Gradient of Risk Preferences

Who is most likely to change their risk preferences over the lifecourse? Using German nationally representative survey data and methods to separate age from cohort effects, we estimate the lifecycle patterns in the socioeconomic gradient of self-reported risk preferences. Tolerance to risk drops by 0.5 SD across all groups from late adolescence to age 40. From mid to old age, risk tolerance continues to drop for the most disadvantaged, while it stabilizes for all other groups. By age 65, the socioeconomic gradient reaches a maximum of 0.5 SD. Extreme risk aversion among the elderly poor has important policy implications.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 8821

Classification
Wirtschaft
Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
Microeconomic Behavior: Underlying Principles
Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
Subject
risk preferences
socioeconomic inequalities
life-course analysis
cohort effects
SOEP

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Schurer, Stefanie
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
(where)
Bonn
(when)
2015

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET

Data provider

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Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Schurer, Stefanie
  • Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

  • 2015

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