Risk Aversion and Religion
CentER Discussion Paper Series No. 2012-073
20 Pages Posted: 13 Sep 2012
Date Written: September 12, 2012
Abstract
Using a dataset for a demographically representative sample of the Dutch population, containing a revealed preference risk attitude measure, as well as very detailed information about participants’ religious background, we study three issues raised in previous literature. First, we find strong confirmatory evidence that more religious people, as measured by church membership or attendance, are more risk averse. Second, we obtain some evidence that Protestants are more risk averse than Catholics. Third, our data suggest that the link between risk aversion and religion is driven by social aspects of church membership, rather than by religious beliefs themselves.
Keywords: risk aversion, religion, Catholicism, Protestantism
JEL Classification: C91, C93, D81, Z12
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation