TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Dohmen, Thomas
AU  - Quercia, Simone
AU  - Willrodt, Jana
        TI  - Willingness to Take Risk: The Role of Risk Conception and Optimism
        PY  - 2018/Jun/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 11642
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp11642
        AB  - We show that the disposition to focus on favorable or unfavorable outcomes of risky situations affects willingness to take risk as measured by the general risk question. We demonstrate that this disposition, which we call risk conception, is strongly associated with optimism, a stable facet of personality and that it predicts real-life risk taking. The general risk question captures this disposition alongside pure risk preference. This enlightens why the general risk question is a better predictor of behavior under risk across different domains than measures of pure risk preference. Our results also rationalize why risk taking is related to optimism.
        KW  - risk taking behavior
KW  - optimism
KW  - preference measures
KW  - risk conception
        ER  -