Genetic Influences on Economic Preferences
Date:
2007-11-22
By:
David, Cesarini (Department of Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Dawes, Christopher T. (Political Science Department, University of California, San Diego) Johannesson, Magnus (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics) Lichtenstein, Paul (Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet) Wallace, Björn (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)
URL:
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:hastef:0679&r=cbe
We use the classical twin design to provide estimates of genetic and environmental influences on experimentally elicited preferences for risk and altruism. Our estimates provide strong prima facie evidence that economic preferences are heritable. Approximately 30 percent of the variation in behavior is explained by genetic effects in the best-fitting models. The results suggest a modest role for common environment as a source of phenotypic variation. Based on the findings, we encourage economists to move beyond a black-box treatment of preference formation and suggest that the further study of the codetermination of preferences by genes and environment will lead to a more comprehensive economic science.
Keywords:
Genetics; Altruism; Risk Aversion; Preferences; Experiments
JEL:
C90 D01 D64
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