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Risk aversion at the country level

Author

Listed:
  • Nestor Gandelman

    (Universidad ORT Uruguay. Facultad de Administración y Ciencias Sociales. Departmento de Economía)

  • Rubén Hernández-Murillo

    (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis)

Abstract

In this paper we provide estimates of relative risk aversion for 80 countries using data on selfreports of personal well-being from the Gallup World Poll. For most countries we cannot reject the null hypothesis that the coefficient of relative risk aversion equals 1. This result supports the use of the log utility function in numerical simulations.

Suggested Citation

  • Nestor Gandelman & Rubén Hernández-Murillo, 2014. "Risk aversion at the country level," Documentos de Investigación 98, Universidad ORT Uruguay. Facultad de Administración y Ciencias Sociales.
    • Handle: RePEc:avs:wpaper:98
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    relative risk aversion; happiness; personal well-being;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D80 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - General
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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