Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/69607 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 4057
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
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 outcome-based 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
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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