TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Angerer, Silvia
AU  - Dutcher, E. Glenn
AU  - Glätzle-Rützler, Daniela
AU  - Lergetporer, Philipp
AU  - Sutter, Matthias
        TI  - The Formation of Risk Preferences through Small-Scale Events
        PY  - 2021/Aug/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 14679
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp14679
        AB  - Large, macroeconomic shocks in the past have been shown to influence economic decisions in the present. We study in an experiment with 743 subjects whether small-scale, seemingly negligible, events also affect the formation of risk preferences. In line with a reinforcement learning model, we find that subjects who won a random lottery took significantly more risk in a second lottery almost a year later. The same pattern emerges in another experiment with 136 subjects where the second lottery was played more than three years after the first lottery. So, small-scale, random, events affect the formation of risk preferences significantly.
        KW  - preference formation
KW  - risk preferences
KW  - reinforcement learning
KW  - experiment
        ER  -