The project combined, for the first time, survey data from the Innovation Panel (IP) of Understanding Society (USoc) with new experimental data on risk preferences (the desire for taking a gamble) and time preferences (the degree to which the present is valued more than the future). It explored the links between individual risk and time preferences and behaviour, with a focus on health and wellbeing. A representative sample of about half the respondents within the IP took part into two experimental sessions, taking place at an interval of 12 months: IP wave 6 (IP6) and IP wave 7 (IP7). In each session, risk and time preferences were measured through experimental tests from behavioural economics involving real monetary stakes. Combined survey and experimental data have been used to empirically test three specific research questions related to the “validity” of experimental measures, namely: (1) to which extent the survey and the experimental measures relate to each other and capture the same underlying attitudes, (2) the links between risk and time preferences and health-related behaviour and (3) the stability over time of risk and time preferences and their response to events and life changes.

Experimental and survey measures for risk and time preferences have been collected using both face-to-face and web-based interview modes.