Collective risk-taking by couples: individual vs household risk

Hélène Couprie (), Jiakun Zheng () and Astrid Hopfensitz
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Hélène Couprie: LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, AMU ECO - Aix-Marseille Université - Faculté d'économie et de gestion - AMU - Aix Marseille Université
Jiakun Zheng: 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, ECM - École Centrale de Marseille

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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; Income pooling; Household risk taking; Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Journal Article: Collective risk-taking by couples: individual vs household risk (2025)
Working Paper: Collective risk-taking by couples: Individual vs household risk (2025)
Working Paper: Collective risk taking by couples: individual vs household risk (2022)
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