Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/104384 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
Munich Discussion Paper No. 2012-34
Publisher: 
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Volkswirtschaftliche Fakultät, München
Abstract: 
This paper examines the effect of peers on individual risk taking. In the absence of informational motives, we investigate why social utility concerns may drive peer effects. We test for two main channels: utility from payoff differences and from conforming to the peer. We show experimentally that social utility generates substantial peer effects in risk taking. These are mainly explained by utility from payoff differences, in line with outcomebased social preferences. Contrary to standard assumptions, we show that estimated social preference parameters change significantly when peers make active choices, compared to when lotteries are randomly assigned to them.
Subjects: 
Peer Effects
Decision Making under risk
Social Comparison
Social Preferences
Laboratory Experiment
JEL: 
C91
C92
D03
D83
G02
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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