Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/125165 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
ZEF Discussion Papers on Development Policy No. 206
Publisher: 
University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF), Bonn
Abstract: 
We relate an observed difference between single men (SM) and single women (SW) in attitudes towards risk to the higher value assigned to social status by SM than by SW. In the marriage market, low status carries a harsher penalty for SM than for SW because when selecting a partner, the social status of a man is more important to a woman than the social status of a woman is to a man. Correlating social status with relative wealth, we show how intensified distaste at experiencing low relative wealth reduces relative risk aversion.
Subjects: 
risk-taking behavior
gender-based difference in risk aversion
relative wealth deprivation
social status
marriage market outcome
JEL: 
D03
D81
G11
G32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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