Social interactions effects on attitudes to risk

• Grant number: 10/06052-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: August 01, 2010
• End date: July 31, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Economics
• Principal Investigator: Marcos de Almeida Rangel
• Grantee: Sergio Almeida de Sousa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Economia, Administração e Contabilidade (FEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

This project proposes to investigate how social interactions shape individuals' attitudes to risk. Many studies find that, in several settings, individual behaviour is affected by the behaviour of others. Yet, little is known about whether and how people's attitudes to risk is dependent on the actions of others. We propose to use a series of experiments to investigate this issue. Specifically, we intend to examine (1) whether and how individuals' attitudes to risk change when the risk stems from the choice of other individuals rather than nature; and (2) whether and how attitudes to risk vary with the behaviour of the group (endogenous interactions) and with risk preferences of the group members (contextual interactions). (AU)