 Are Commercial Fishers Risk Lovers?Håkan Eggert and Peter Martinsson No 90, Working Papers in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics Abstract: Empirical studies of fishers’ preferences have found that most fishers are risk-averse, while expected-utility theory predicts risk neutrality even for sizable stakes. We test this prediction using data from a stated choice experiment with Swedish commercial fishers. Our results show that almost 90% of the respondents do not behave as expected-utility maximizers. 48% of the fishers can be broadly characterized as risk-neutral, 26% as modestly risk-averse, while 26% are strongly risk-averse. Fishers are more risk-neutral the higher the fraction of their household’s income comes from fishing, while fishers with a positive attitude to individual quotas are more risk-averse. Sensitivity testing implies that decisions with modest stakes like a few days of fishing are not influenced by wealth level.
Keywords: Expected utility; Prospect theory; Risk preferences; Stated preferences; Swedish fisheries (search for similar items in EconPapers) Published in Land Economics, 2004, pages 550-560. There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it. Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0090 Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from Access Statistics for this paper More papers in Working Papers in Economics from University of Gothenburg, Department of Economics Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Box 640, SE 405 30 GÖTEBORG, Sweden. Contact information at EDIRC. |
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