Reducing Loss Aversion

This thesis investigates factors that may influence people’s degree of loss aversion. Data obtained by an online survey with 108 respondents showed that aggregating risks with other individuals makes people less loss averse. However, providing information on the outcome of others’ choices did not have an impact. When controlling this effect for other demographic covariates, it is found that men are more loss averse than women, older people are more loss averse than younger people, and happier people are more loss averse than less happy people. Future research could concern the underlying cause of the statistically significant effect and explore the possibilities of a nudge, based on this intervention.