Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/96734 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 8060
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The ways in which preferences respond to the varying stress of economic environments is a key question for behavioral economics and public policy. We conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate the effects of stress on financial decision making among individuals aged 50 and older. Using the cold pressor task as a physiological stressor, and a series of intelligence tests as cognitive stressors, we find that stress increases subjective discounting rates, has no effect on the degree of risk-aversion, and substantially lowers the effort individuals make to learn about financial decisions.
Subjects: 
stress
financial decisions
discounting
risk aversion
learning
JEL: 
D91
I31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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