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On the Interaction of Risk and Time Preferences: An Experimental Study

Author

Listed:
  • Anderhub Vital
  • Güth Werner

    (Institute for Economic Theory, Berlin, Germany)

Abstract

Experimental studies of risk and time preference typically focus on one of the two phenomena. The goal of this paper is to investigate the (possible) correlation between subjects' attitude to risk and their time preference. For this sake we ask 61 subjects to price a simple lottery in three different scenarios. At the first, the lottery premium is paid `now'. At the second, it is paid `later'. At the third, it is paid `even later'. By comparing the certainty equivalents offered by the subjects for the three lotteries, we test how time and risk preferences are interrelated. Since the time interval between `now' and `later' is the same as between `later' and `even later', we also test the hypothesis of hyperbolic discounting. The main result is a statistically significant negative correlation between subjects' degrees of risk aversion and their (implicit) discount factors. Moreover, we show that the negative correlation is independent of the method used to elicit certainty equivalents (willingness to pay versus willingness to accept).

Suggested Citation

  • Anderhub Vital & Güth Werner, 2001. "On the Interaction of Risk and Time Preferences: An Experimental Study," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 2(3), pages 239-253, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:germec:v:2:y:2001:i:3:p:239-253
    DOI: 10.1111/1468-0475.00036
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Matthias Sutter & Martin G. Kocher & Daniela Glätzle-Rützler & Stefan T. Trautmann, 2013. "Impatience and Uncertainty: Experimental Decisions Predict Adolescents' Field Behavior," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(1), pages 510-531, February.
    2. Aycinena, Diego & Blazsek, Szabolcs & Rentschler, Lucas & Sprenger, Charles, 2022. "Intertemporal choice experiments and large-stakes behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 484-500.
    3. Tomomi Tanaka & Colin F. Camerer & Quang Nguyen, 2006. "Preferences, Poverty and Politics: Experimental and Survey Data from Vietnam," Levine's Bibliography 321307000000000054, UCLA Department of Economics.
    4. Natanael Waraney Gerald Massie & Chaikal Nuryakin, 2020. "When Prime Depositors Run On The Banks: A Behavioral Approach," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 23(1), pages 139-152.
    5. James Andreoni & Charles Sprenger, 2012. "Estimating Time Preferences from Convex Budgets," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(7), pages 3333-3356, December.
    6. Ruffle, Bradley J. & Wilson, Anne E., 2019. "Tat will tell: Tattoos and time preferences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 566-585.
    7. Meier, Stephan & Sprenger, Charles, 2010. "Stability of Time Preferences," IZA Discussion Papers 4756, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Eike B. Kroll & Bodo Vogt, 2008. "Loss Aversion for time: An experimental investigation of time preferences," FEMM Working Papers 08027, Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, Faculty of Economics and Management.
    9. Isaiah Andrews & Drew Fudenberg & Lihua Lei & Annie Liang & Chaofeng Wu, 2022. "The Transfer Performance of Economic Models," Papers 2202.04796, arXiv.org, revised May 2023.
    10. Tomomi Tanaka & Colin F Camerer & Quang Nguyen, 2006. "Poverty, politics, and preferences: Field Experiments and survey data from Vietnam," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000001099, UCLA Department of Economics.

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