Men, but not women, who experienced greater intensity of an earthquake became more risk tolerant a year after it. Risk preferences are persistent even five years after the Earthquake at almost the same magnitude as those shortly after it. Also, these men gamble more.

Do Risk Preferences Change? Evidence from the Great East Japan Earthquake. Chie Hanaoka, Hitoshi Shigeoka, and Yasutora Watanabe. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. Apr 2018, Vol. 10, No. 2: Pages 298-330. https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/app.20170048

Abstract: We investigate whether individuals' risk preferences change after experiencing a natural disaster, specifically, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Exploiting the panels of nationally representative surveys on risk preferences, we find that men who experienced greater intensity of the earthquake became more risk tolerant a year after the Earthquake. Interestingly, the effects on men's risk preferences are persistent even five years after the Earthquake at almost the same magnitude as those shortly after the Earthquake. Furthermore, these men gamble more, which is consistent with the direction of changes in risk preferences. We find no such pattern for women. (JEL D12, D81, J16, Q54)

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