@TechReport{iza:izadps:dp8060, author={Delaney, Liam and Fink, Günther and Harmon, Colm P.}, title={Effects of Stress on Economic Decision-Making: Evidence from Laboratory Experiments}, year={2014}, month={Mar}, institution={Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)}, address={Bonn}, type={IZA Discussion Paper}, number={8060}, url={https://www.iza.org/index.php/publications/dp8060}, abstract={The ways in which preferences respond to the varying stress of economic environments is a key question for behavioral economics and public policy. We conducted a laboratory experiment to investigate the effects of stress on financial decision making among individuals aged 50 and older. Using the cold pressor task as a physiological stressor, and a series of intelligence tests as cognitive stressors, we find that stress increases subjective discounting rates, has no effect on the degree of risk-aversion, and substantially lowers the effort individuals make to learn about financial decisions.}, keywords={risk aversion;discounting;financial decisions;stress;learning}, }