ABSTRACT Combining a standard measure of concern about low relative wealth and a standard measure of relative risk aversion leads to a novel explanation of variation in risk-taking behavior identified and documented by social psychologists and economists. We obtain two results: (1) Holding individual i’s wealth and his rank in the wealth distribution constant, the individual’s relative risk aversion decreases when he becomes more relatively deprived as a result of an increase in the average wealth of the individuals who are wealthier than he is. (2) If relative deprivation enters the individual’s utility function approximately linearly then, holding constant individual i’s wealth and the average wealth of the individuals who are wealthier than he is, the individual’s relative risk aversion decreases when he becomes more relatively deprived as a result of a decline in his rank. Our findings provide a theoretical support for evidence about the propensity of relatively deprived individuals to gamble and resort to other risky behaviors.

中文翻译：

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相对剥夺是危险行为的一个原因

摘要 将关注低相对财富的标准衡量标准与相对风险规避的标准衡量标准相结合，可以对社会心理学家和经济学家确定和记录的风险承担行为的变化进行新的解释。我们得到两个结果：(1) 保持个人 i 的财富和他在财富分配中的等级不变，当他变得更加相对匮乏时，由于比他更富有的个人的平均财富增加，他的相对风险厌恶会降低。他是。(2) 如果相对剥夺近似线性地进入个人的效用函数，那么在保持个人 i 的财富和比他更富有的个人的平均财富不变的情况下，当个人由于等级下降而变得相对匮乏时，他的相对风险厌恶就会降低。我们的研究结果为关于相对贫困的人赌博和采取其他危险行为的倾向的证据提供了理论支持。