title: Monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA) associated with attitude towards longshot risks.
abstract: Decision making often entails longshot risks involving a small chance of receiving a substantial outcome. People tend to be risk preferring (averse) when facing longshot risks involving significant gains (losses). This differentiation towards longshot risks underpins the markets for lottery as well as for insurance. Both lottery and insurance have emerged since ancient times and continue to play a useful role in the modern economy. In this study, we observe subjects' incentivized choices in a controlled laboratory setting, and investigate their association with a widely studied, promoter-region repeat functional polymorphism in monoamine oxidase A gene (MAOA). We find that subjects with the high activity (4-repeat) allele are characterized by a preference for the longshot lottery and also less insurance purchasing than subjects with the low activity (3-repeat) allele. This is the first result to link attitude towards longshot risks to a specific gene. It complements recent findings on the neurobiological basis of economic risk taking.
authors.affiliation: Center for Experimental Business Research and Department of Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Kowloon, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Hong Kong.
authors.forename: Songfa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.forename: Salomon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Israel
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.forename: Richard P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Ebstein
authors.forename: Soo Hong
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chew
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007341:Insurance; D008297:Male; D008995:Monoamine Oxidase / Q000235:genetics*; D012309:Risk-Taking
chemical_list: D008995:Monoamine Oxidase