Collective risk-taking by couples: Individual vs household risk

Jiakun Zheng, Hélène Couprie and Astrid Hopfensitz
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Jiakun Zheng: AMU - Aix Marseille Université, AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
Hélène Couprie: AMU - Aix Marseille Université, LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

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Abstract: 101 real couples participated in a controlled experimental risk-taking task involving variations in household and individual income risks, while controlling for ex-ante income inequality. Our design disentangles the effects of household risk, intra-household risk inequality, and ex-post payoff inequality. We find that most couples (about 79%) pooled their risk at the household level when risks were borne symmetrically, but a significant proportion of couples (about 36%) failed to do so when individual risks were borne asymmetrically. Additionally, within the scope of the control variables we have utilized, we find that intra-household risk inequality has a larger impact on non-married couples compared to married ones. These results remain robust when the analysis is limited to couples in which both spouses are risk-averse. Lastly, we find that preferences for household efficiency are significantly correlated across both certain and risky situations. However, couples consisting of two income-maximizing spouses do not show greater aversion to risk inequality compared to couples with other compositions.

Keywords: experiment; household risk taking; inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-01-22
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Published in Theory and Decision, inPress, 31 p. ⟨10.1007/s11238-024-10021-z⟩

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Working Paper: Collective risk taking by couples: individual vs household risk (2022)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04911748

DOI: 10.1007/s11238-024-10021-z

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