WP 2014-04 Risk Attitudes, Sample Selection and Attrition in a Longitudinal Field Experiment

Posted On February 26, 2014
Categories Working Papers, WP 2014 Tags ,
Download Paper

Published in 2020 in Review of Economics and Statistics, Volume 102, Issue 3.

AUTHORS: Glenn W. Harrison, Morten I. Lau and Hong Il Yoo

ABSTRACT: We evaluate the temporal stability of risk preferences using a remarkable data set that combines sociodemographic information from the Danish Civil Registry with information on risk attitudes from a longitudinal field experiment. Our econometric model accounts for endogenous sample selection and attrition processes that may confound inferences about temporal stability. Our experimental design builds in randomization on the incentives for participation that facilitates empirical identification of the model. In general, we find evidence consistent with temporal stability after correcting for the effects of selection and attrition. When neglected, these effects change our inferences in an economically and statistically significant manner.