Parenthood and Risk Preferences

Katja Görlitz and Marcus Tamm

No 8947, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study analyzes how risk attitudes change when individuals become parents using longitudinal data for a large and representative sample of individuals. The results show that men and women experience a considerable increase in risk aversion which already starts as early as two years before becoming a parent, is largest shortly after giving birth and disappears when the child becomes older. These findings show that parenthood leads to considerable changes in individual risk attitudes over time. Thus, analyses using risk preferences as the explanatory variable for economic outcomes should be careful in interpreting the findings as causal effects.

Keywords: risk preferences; preference stability; parenthood; children; risk aversion; gender differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D1 D81 J13 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 10 pages
Date: 2015-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published - extended version published as 'Parenthood, risk attitudes and risky behavior' in: Journal of Economic Psychology, 2020, 79, 102189

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Related works:
Working Paper: Parenthood and Risk Preferences (2015)
Working Paper: Parenthood and risk preferences (2015)
Working Paper: Parenthood and Risk Preferences (2015)
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