Genetic determinants of financial risk taking.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19209222.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0004362 and PMC identifier 2634960.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Individuals vary in their willingness to take financial risks. Here we show that variants of two genes that regulate dopamine and serotonin neurotransmission and have been previously linked to emotional behavior, anxiety and addiction (5-HTTLPR and DRD4) are significant determinants of risk taking in investment decisions. We find that the 5-HTTLPR s/s allele carriers take 28% less risk than those carrying the s/l or l/l alleles of the gene. DRD4 7-repeat allele carriers take 25% more risk than individuals without the 7-repeat allele. These findings contribute to the emerging literature on the genetic determinants of economic behavior.
Medical subject headings
- Economics
- Genes
- Models, Genetic
- Risk-Taking