Are risk-tolerant individuals more trustful? A representative sample study

Daniel Montoya Herrera and Marc Willinger ()
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Daniel Montoya Herrera: CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier
Marc Willinger: CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier

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Abstract: Based on a representative sample of the French population (n = 1,154), we show that there is a positive association between risk tolerance and trust. We rely on, the World Value Survey WVS binary trust measure, and a '0 -10' scale that we decline in three domains: trust in general, family, and co-workers. We also vary the measure of risk tolerance, by considering an incentivized investment task, and a '0 -10' stated preference scale that we decline in three domains: risk tolerance in general, in finance, and health. These variations allow us to test 16 different relations, by crossing four dependent trust variables with four different risk tolerance covariates. After adjusting for multiple testing, we found nine combinations with a strong positive link between risk tolerance and trust in the general population, and that stated risk tolerance measures predict stated trust better than elicited risk measures.

Keywords: risk-aversion; preferences; generalized trust; Behavioral economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-dcm, nep-exp and nep-upt
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05234962v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published in Journal of the Economic Science Association, inPress, ⟨10.1017/esa.2025.2⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05234962

DOI: 10.1017/esa.2025.2

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