financial literacy and risk preferences of the elderly

Last registered on April 30, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

financial literacy and risk preferences of the elderly

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0015444

Initial registration date

April 29, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

April 30, 2025, 1:39 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

Italy

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Silvana Robone

Affiliation

University of Eastern Piedmont

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-05-15

End date

2025-09-30

Keywords

Behavior, Finance & Microfinance, Health

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

With regard to the elderly population, in recent decades, the economic well-being of this group of people has become increasingly dependent on their financial decisions. Risk preferences in the financial domain are key elements in shaping these decisions. Therefore, a better understanding of the determinants of financial risk preferences among elderly individuals is of fundamental importance.
Previous studies have shown that health shocks (to which the elderly are highly exposed) lead individuals to become excessively risk-averse about financial matters. Other studies have highlighted that individuals with a good level of financial education tend to be less risk-averse in financial decisions, ceteris paribus. In light of this empirical evidence, our research project will conduct a randomized controlled trial (through a survey experiment), identifying two groups of individuals: the "sick" (subjects who have experienced severe health issues such as stroke, heart attack, or cancer in the past 36 months) and the "healthy" (subjects who have not had any major health problems). Within both groups, we will define a “control group” and a “treatment group”. The treatment group will be shown a video covering the basic principles of financial asset allocation. Exposing the control group to the video can be considered as a form of nudging.
We expect that, in line with behavioral economics theories, individuals who watch the video will exhibit lower financial risk aversion compared to the control group. This effect should be particularly relevant for the group of "sick" individuals.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Robone, Silvana. 2025. "financial literacy and risk preferences of the elderly." AEA RCT Registry. April 30. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.15444-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Previous studies have shown that health shocks (to which the elderly are highly exposed) lead individuals to become excessively risk-averse about financial matters. Other studies have highlighted that individuals with a good level of financial education tend to be less risk-averse in financial decisions, ceteris paribus. In light of this empirical evidence, our research project will conduct a randomized controlled trial (through a survey experiment), identifying two groups of individuals: the "sick" (subjects who have experienced severe health issues such as stroke, heart attack, or cancer in the past 36 months) and the "healthy" (subjects who have not had any major health problems). Within both groups, we will define a “control group” and a “treatment group”. The treatment group will be shown a video covering the basic principles of financial asset allocation. Exposing the control group to the video can be considered as a form of nudging.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-05-15

Intervention End Date

2025-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

- general risk preference
- risk preference in the domain of finance (assett allocation):
1) self reported measure of financial risk preference
2) financial risk preference measured through an (incentive compatible) investment game

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

- "general risk preference" will be constructed exploiting a question which mimic the game "Deal or No Deal", in way similar to Post et al. (2008).
- the measure of financial risk preference which is "incentive compatible" is build on the basis of the game developed by Gneezy and Potters (1997)

Reference
Gneezy U., Potters J., (1997), An Experiment on Risk Taking and Evaluation Periods, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112 (2), 631–645

Post T., van den Assem M.J., Baltussen G., Thaler R. H. (2008), “Deal or No Deal? Decision Making under Risk in a Large-Payoff Game Show”, American Economic Review, 98 (1), 38–71.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

In light of this empirical evidence, our research project will conduct a randomized controlled trial (through a survey experiment), identifying two groups of individuals: the "sick" (subjects who have experienced severe health issues such as stroke, heart attack, or cancer in the past 36 months) and the "healthy" (subjects who have not had any major health problems). Within both groups, we will define a “control group” and a “treatment group”. The treatment group will be shown a video covering the basic principles of financial asset allocation. Exposing the control group to the video can be considered as a form of nudging.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

individual will be randomly allocated to the "control group" and the "treatment group" (subject to watching the video) by the consultancy company which will implement the survey, by interviewing individuals in the sample. The random allocation to the control and treatment group will be done through a statistical software

Randomization Unit

Individuals will be the unit of randomization

Was the treatment clustered?

Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

2180 individuals, 1380 individuals in the group of "healthy" and 800 individuals in the group of "sick"

Sample size: planned number of observations

2180 individuals in the age group 50-80, and 1520 in the age group 25-50 (information about "young people" are collected to run placebo tests). Overall, our sample will comprize 3700 individuals.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

Overall, our sample will comprize 3700 individuals:
- 2180 individuals in the age group 50-80: 1380 individuals in the group of "healthy" and 800 individuals in the group of "sick"
- 1520 in the age group 25-50 (information about "young people" are collected to run placebo tests).

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Supporting Documents and Materials

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