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Members of German Federal Parliament More Risk-Loving than General Population

Author

Listed:
  • Moritz Heß
  • Christian von Scheve
  • Jürgen Schupp
  • Gert G. Wagner

Abstract

The article analyzes the question of whether career politicians differ systematically from the general population in terms of their attitudes toward risk. A written survey of members of the 17th German Bundestag in late 2011 identified their risk attitudes, and the survey data was set in relation to respondents to the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) for the survey year 2009 (2002 through 2012). Compared with the population surveyed in the SOEP, members of the German parliament display a considerably higher general risk appe-tite, which is highly significant. For different areas of risk, last surveyed in the SOEP in 2009, the members of parliament had significantly stronger risk-loving attitudes across vir-tually all indicators and risk categories surveyed than the comparison groups of SOEP re-spondents.

Suggested Citation

  • Moritz Heß & Christian von Scheve & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2013. "Members of German Federal Parliament More Risk-Loving than General Population," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 546, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp546
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2011. "Individual Risk Attitudes: Measurement, Determinants, And Behavioral Consequences," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 522-550, June.
    2. Bonin, Holger & Dohmen, Thomas & Falk, Armin & Huffman, David & Sunde, Uwe, 2007. "Cross-sectional earnings risk and occupational sorting: The role of risk attitudes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 926-937, December.
    3. Moritz Heß & Christian von Scheve & Jürgen Schupp & Gert G. Wagner, 2013. "Sind Politiker risikofreudiger als das Volk?: Eine empirische Studie zu Mitgliedern des Deutschen Bundestags," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 545, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    4. Vieider, Ferdinand M. & Chmura, Thorsten & Martinsson, Peter, 2012. "Risk attitudes, development, and growth: Macroeconomic evidence from experiments in 30 countries," Discussion Papers, WZB Junior Research Group Risk and Development SP II 2012-401, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    5. Marco Caliendo & Frank M. Fossen & Alexander S. Kritikos, 2011. "Selbständige sind anders: Persönlichkeit beeinflusst unternehmerisches Handeln," DIW Wochenbericht, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 78(11), pages 2-8.
    6. Thomas Siedler & JÜrgen Schupp & C. Katharina Spiess & Gert G. Wagner, 2009. "The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) as Reference Data Set," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 129(2), pages 367-374.
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    Cited by:

    1. Sandro Ambuehl & Sebastian Blesse & Philipp Doerrenberg & Christoph Feldhaus & Axel Ockenfels, 2023. "Politicians’ Social Welfare Criteria – An Experiment with German Legislators," ifo Working Paper Series 391, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    2. Hannes Kröger & Jürgen Schupp & Johann Behrens, 2014. "Unlocking further potential in the National Cohort study (NaKo) through comparability with the German Socio-Economic Panel," RatSWD Working Papers 237, German Data Forum (RatSWD).
    3. Sorokin, Constantine & Zakharov, Alexei, 2018. "Vote-motivated candidates," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 176(C), pages 232-254.
    4. Sebastian Blesse & Pierre C Boyer & Friedrich Heinemann & Eckhard Janeba & Anasuya Raj, 2019. "European Monetary Union reform preferences of French and German parliamentarians," European Union Politics, , vol. 20(3), pages 406-424, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    political decision-making; risk aversion; German parliament; SOEP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H11 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Structure and Scope of Government
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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