LOST IN STATE SPACE: ARE PREFERENCES STABLE?* |
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| Authors: | Steffen Andersen Glenn W Harrison Morten I Lau E Elisabet Rutström |
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| Institution: | 1. Copenhagen Business School, Denmark;2. University of Central Florida, U.S.A.;3. Durham University, U.K.;4. We thank the U.S. National Science Foundation for research support under grants NSF/IIS 9817518 and NSF/HSD 0527675, and the Danish Social Science Research Council for research support under project #24‐02‐0124. We are grateful to two referees for helpful comments. Please address correspondence to: Glenn W. Harrison, Department of Economics, University of Central Florida, P.O. Box 161400, Orlando, FL 32816‐1400. E‐mail: gharrison@research.bus.ucf.edu. |
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| Abstract: | We use field experiments to examine the temporal stability of risk preferences. Over a 17‐month period, we elicited risk preferences from subjects chosen to be representative of the adult Danish population. During this period we revisited many of these subjects and repeated a risk aversion elicitation task. We find some variation in risk attitudes over time, but we do not detect a general tendency for risk attitudes to increase or decrease over a 17‐month span. The results also suggest that risk preferences are state contingent with respect to personal finances. |
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