Who really wants to be a millionaire? Estimates of risk aversion from gameshow data

Roger Hartley, Gauthier Lanot and Ian Walker (ian.walker@lancaster.ac.uk)
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Roger Hartley: University of Manchester

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper analyses the behaviour of contestants in one of the most popular TV gameshows ever to estimate risk aversion. This gameshow has a number of features that makes it well suited for our analysis: the format is extremely straightforward, it involves no strategic decision-making, we have a large number of observations, and the prizes are cash and paid immediately, and cover a large range – from £100 up to £1 million. Our data sources have the virtue that we are able to check the representativeness of the gameshow participants. Even though the CRRA model is extremely restrictive we find that a coefficient or relative risk aversion which is close to unity fits the data across a wide range of wealth remarkably well.

Keywords: Risk aversion; gameshow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C23 C93 D81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 53 pages
Date: 2006
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-fmk and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/w ... s/2008/twerp_747.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: WHO REALLY WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE? ESTIMATES OF RISK AVERSION FROM GAMESHOW DATA (2014)
Working Paper: Who really wants to be a millionaire? Estimates of risk aversion from gameshow data (2006)
Working Paper: Who Really Wants to be a Millionaire? Estimates of Risk Aversion from Gameshow Data (2006)
Working Paper: Who really wants to be a millionaire? Estimates of risk aversion from gameshow data (2006)
Working Paper: Who Really Wants to be a Millionaire? Estimates of Risk Aversion from Gameshow Data (2005)
Working Paper: Who Really Wants to be a Millionaire: Estimates of Risk Aversion from Game Show Data (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:747

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