Survey measures versus incentivized measures of risk preferences: evidence from sex workers' risky sexual transactions

Asadul Islam; Russell Smyth; HongQi Alexis Tan; Liang C. Wang

doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112497

Survey measures versus incentivized measures of risk preferences: evidence from sex workers' risky sexual transactions

Asadul Islam, Russell Smyth, HongQi Alexis Tan, Liang C. Wang

Department of Economics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)

Abstract

Survey measures of risk attitudes are primarily used in the health literature, although incentivized measures of risk preferences are being increasingly used in other fields. We exploit the unique setting of commercial female sex workers in Bangladesh to investigate whether incentivized measures of risk preferences, or non-incentivized survey measures of risk preferences, best identify the risky commercial sex decisions that they make. The study uses survey data collected during February–April 2016, and October–November 2016 from eight brothels in Bangladesh. Wave 1 includes 1,332 female sex workers, Wave 2 includes 1,185 female sex workers. Our findings suggest that researchers can reliably use survey measures to elicit risk preferences on health.

Original language	English
Article number	112497
Number of pages	8
Journal	Social Science and Medicine
Volume	238
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112497
Publication status	Published - 1 Oct 2019

Keywords

Bangladesh
Financial risk
Health risk
Risk preferences
Sex workers

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10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112497

Link to publication in Scopus

Cite this

Islam, A., Smyth, R., Tan, H. A., & Wang, L. C. (2019). Survey measures versus incentivized measures of risk preferences: evidence from sex workers' risky sexual transactions. Social Science and Medicine, 238, [112497]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.112497

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