How Vulnerable Is Risk Aversion to Wealth, Health and Other Risks? An Empirical Analysis for Europe

Abstract

This paper empirically assesses how financial risk aversion reacts to a change in individuals' wealth and health and to the presence of both financial and health risks using the Survey of Health, Ageing, and Retirement in Europe (SHARE). Individuals in our sample exhibit financial risk aversion decreasing both in wealth and health. Financial risk aversion is also found to increase in the presence of a background financial risk and a background health risk. Interestingly, risk aversion is shown to be convex in wealth but linear in health. Such findings complement the literature on risk aversion behaviours and can help to better understand various economic decisions in a risky environment.