TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Pannenberg, Markus
        TI  - Risk Aversion and Reservation Wages
        PY  - 2007/May/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 2806
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp2806
        AB  - This study examines the relationship between individual risk aversion and reservation wages using a novel set of direct measures of individual risk attitudes from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). We find that risk aversion has a significantly negative impact on the level of reservation wages. Moreover, we show that the elasticity of the reservation wage with respect to unemployment benefits is remarkably lower for risk-averse job seekers than for risk-loving job seekers. The results are consistent with an interpretation that risk-averse job seekers set their reservation wage levels sufficiently low, so that they accept almost every job offer.
        KW  - risk aversion
KW  - reservation wages
KW  - survey data
        ER  -