Citation

Anderson LR, Mellor JM. J. Health Econ. 2008; 27(5): 1260-1274.

Affiliation

Department of Economics, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA 23187-8795, USA. lrand@wm.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jhealeco.2008.05.011

PMID

18621427

Abstract

We conduct a large-scale economics experiment paired with a survey to examine the association between individual risk preference and health-related behaviors among adults aged 18-87 years. Risk preference is measured by the lottery choice experiment designed by Holt and Laury [Holt, C.A., Laury, S.K., 2002. Risk aversion and incentive effects. The American Economic Review 92(5), 1644-1655]. Controlling for subject demographic and economic characteristics, we find that risk aversion is negatively and significantly associated with cigarette smoking, heavy drinking, being overweight or obese, and seat belt non-use. In additional specifications, we find that risk aversion is negatively and significantly associated with the likelihood a subject engaged in any of five risky behaviors and the number of risky behaviors reported.

Language: en