Tall people are more prepared to take risks than small people, women are more careful than men, and the willingness to take risks markedly decreases with age: these are the findings arrived at by researchers from the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), the University of Bonn and the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) in Berlin.
For their study they evaluated more than 20,000 interviews with people from all over Germany and additionally confirmed the findings by experiment. What is particularly striking is that people who enjoy taking risks are more content with their lives.
The interviewees were supposed to imagine that they had won 100,000 euros in a lottery, part of which they could invest in a bank. There was a 50% likelihood that they would thus double the amount invested within two years. However, the risk of losing half the money invested was just as great.
'Under these conditions, women invest about 6,000 euros less than men,' Professor Armin Frank, who researches and teaches at Institute for the Study of Labor and at the University of Bonn, explains. 'Irrespective of gender, younger people invest a larger sum than older ones – the annual difference is approximately €350.' Willingness to take risks also depends on body height: for every centimetre the amount invested rises by €200. Furthermore, educated parents have children who are more prepared to take risks.
For the study, more than 20,000 interviews were evaluated by Professor Falk and his colleagues Dr. Thomas Dohmen, David Huffman and Dr. Uwe Sunde, together with the DIW researchers Dr. Jürgen Schupp and Professor Gert Wagner. In it the interviewees were asked to assess their willingness to take risks on a scale from zero (= not willing to take any risks) to ten (= very willing to take risks) and also to take part in the intellectual experiment described above. The results: Smokers are more willing to take risks than non-smokers. The same is true for people who prefer to invest their wealth in shares rather than in fixed-interest investments. And: People who enjoy taking risks are more content with their lives.