Table 3.

Risk and Time Preference

VARIABLES	Drinker-driver Groups
	Total	0	1–4	5+	0 vs. 5+	0 vs. 1–4	1–4 vs. 5+
	Means	Means	Means	Means	t-test	t-test	t-test
Risk Preferencea
Least risk tolerant	0.35	0.39	0.28	0.31	1.17	3.54**	−0.56
Medium risk tolerant	0.59	0.56	0.66	0.59	−0.46	−2.95**	0.98
Most risk tolerant	0.04	0.04	0.05	0.06	−0.92	−0.91	−0.39
Time Preference
Financial planning horizon (yrs.)b	4.26	4.45	3.86	4.27	0.38	2.49*	−0.81
Short-term orientation: financialc	1.79	1.75	1.83	1.98	−1.31	−0.87	−0.81
Win 1000†	0.42	0.42	0.41	0.50	−1.23	0.21	−1.28
Win 20	0.69	0.69	0.69	0.75	−1.07	−0.16	−0.96
Lose 1000	0.37	0.35	0.41	0.33	0.41	−1.87	1.27
Lose 20	0.31	0.30	0.32	0.41	−1.78	−0.64	−1.38
Short-term orientation: healthd	32.67	33.25	31.80	30.64	0.44	0.51	0.21
Dummy: less than
20 days	0.10	0.12	0.08	0.08	1.01	2.25*	−0.06

^**Significant at the 1 percent level

^*Significant at the 5 percent level

^aThe binary variables for risk tolerance are mutually exclusive and generated from a set of 5 questions that ask respondents to choose between staying with their current job or taking a new job that may raise or lower lifetime income by different degrees. The variables “medium risk tolerant” and “most risk tolerant” are included in table 6.

^bThis variable indicates the time frame an individual considers when planning their financial future. It takes values of 0.5, 1, 2.5, 7.5, or 10.

^cThis variable is an index ranging from 0–4, where 0 indicates extreme long-term orientation and 4 indicates extreme short-term orientation. In each of the 4 component questions, the respondent indicates whether they prefer to win/lose a smaller sum of money now or a larger sum of money later.

^dThis variable displays how many days of perfect health next year the respondent would value equally as much as 20 more days of perfect health this year.