Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/67147 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6997
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper we utilise data from a unique new birth-cohort study to see how the risk preferences of young people are affected by cognitive skills and gender. We find that cognitive ability (measured by the percentile ranking for university entrance at age 18) has no effect on risk preferences measured at age 20. This is in contrast to experimental studies that use IQ measures to proxy cognitive skills. However we do find that gender matters. While young women are significantly more likely than young men to assess themselves as being prepared to take risks, women choose to invest significantly less when they are confronted with a clearly specified investment decision based on hypothetical lottery winnings. This difference between the impact of gender on risk attitudes and the hypothetical lottery investment suggests that impatience and framing affect young women and men differently.
Subjects: 
cognitive ability
risk preferences
risk attitudes
gender
JEL: 
D01
D80
J16
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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