Risk Aversion, Impatience & Cognitive Ability

Are Risk Aversion and Impatience Related to Cognitive Ability?
Dohmen Thomas,Falk Armin,Huffman David

This paper investigates whether risk aversion and impatience are correlated with cognitive ability. We conduct incentive compatible choice experiments measuring risk aversion, and impatience over an annual time horizon, for a representative sample of roughly 1,000 German adults. A measure of cognitive ability is provided by two submodules of one of the most widely used IQ tests. Interviews are conducted in subjects'' own homes. We find that lower cognitive ability is associated with greater risk aversion, and more pronounced impatience. These relationships are statistically and economically significant, and robust to controlling for personal characteristics, educational attainment, income, and measures of liquidity constraints.
http://edocs.ub.unimaas.nl/loader/file.asp?id=1445

Social Emotions and Intertemporal Choice

David DeSteno outlines theory and evidence suggesting that ‘‘Hot’’ emotional mechanisms build social and economic capital. In this interesting and sensible social interpretation of decision making over time he reviews evidence demonstrating the ability of "specific, socially oriented emotions to facilitate behaviors designed to build social and economic capital in the long run".

There are a few gems in the latest issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science actually link here

The article by Linda Gallo and colleagues on the Reserve Capacity Model and Socioeconomic Status and Health is the first time this promising model has started to come together, from my reading anyway.

From a practical standpoint for anyone interested in research with older populations, the uptake of biomedical devices, and future technologies, the article by Charness and Boot on barriers to technology usage in the elderly is also worth a read.

The article on alternatives to randomized experiments by Stephen West is another interesting one.