Cross-sectional earnings risk and occupational sorting The role of risk attitudes

• Published in: Labour economics Vol. 14; no. 6; pp. 926 - 937
• Main Authors: Bonin, Holger, Dohmen, Thomas, Falk, Armin, Huffman, David, Sunde, Uwe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.12.2007; Elsevier
• Series: Labour Economics
• Subjects: Berufswahl; Bildungsertrag; Deutschland; Earnings risk; Einkommen; Occupational choice; Präferenz; Risiko; Risk preferences; SOEP; Sorting; Theorie; SOEP; D01; Earnings risk; J31; Risk preferences; D81; Occupational choice; J24; Sorting

This paper investigates to what extent individuals' risk preferences are correlated with the cross-sectional earnings risk of their occupation. We exploit data from the German Socio-Economic Panel, which contains a direct survey question about willingness to take risks that has been shown to be...