Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/108711 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8821
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
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.
Subjects: 
risk preferences
socioeconomic inequalities
life-course analysis
cohort effects
SOEP
JEL: 
D81
D01
D63
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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