Born to be wild: Second-to-fourth digit length ratio and risk preferences.

Brian Finley, Adriaan Kalwij, Arie Kapteyn

Economics and human biology 2022 Dec

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The second-to-fourth digit length ratio of an individual's hand (digit ratio) is a putative biomarker for prenatal exposure to testosterone. We examine the hypothesized negative association between the digit ratio and the preference for risk taking within a large U.S. population survey. Our statistical framework provides a cardinal proxy for the true digit ratio based on ordinal digit ratio measurements and accounts for measurement error under the assumptions of Gaussianity and time-invariant true digit ratios. Our empirical findings support the hypothesis and suggest a meaningful biological basis for risk preferences. Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Brian Finley, Adriaan Kalwij, Arie Kapteyn. Born to be wild: Second-to-fourth digit length ratio and risk preferences. Economics and human biology. 2022 Dec;47:101178