Aging and Economic Preferences: Cumulative Meta-Analyses of Age Differences in Risk, Time, Social, and Effort Preferences

OBJECTIVES: Several theories predict changes in individuals’ economic preferences across the life span. To test these theories and provide a historical overview of this literature, we conducted meta-analyses on age differences in risk, time, social, and effort preferences as assessed by behavioral measures. METHODS: We conducted separate meta-analyses and cumulative meta-analyses on the association between age and risk, time, social, and effort preferences. We also conducted analyses of historical trends in sample sizes and citation patterns for each economic preference. RESULTS: The meta-analyses identified overall no significant effects of age for risk (r = −0.02, 95% CI [−0.06, 0.02], n = 39,832) and effort preferences (r = 0.24, 95% CI [−0.05, 0.52], n = 571), but significant effects of age for time (r = −0.04, 95% CI [−0.07, −0.01], n = 115,496) and social preferences (r = 0.11, 95% CI [0.01, 0.21], n = 2,997), suggesting increased patience and altruism with age, respectively. Equivalence tests, which compare these effects to practically important ones (i.e., r = |0.1|), however, suggest that all effects are of trivial significance. The analyses of temporal trends suggest that the magnitude of effects and sample sizes have not changed significantly over time, nor do they dramatically affect the extent that articles are cited. DISCUSSION: Overall, our results contrast with theories of aging that propose general age effects for risk and effort preferences, yet provide some but tenuous support for those suggesting age-related changes in time and social preferences. We discuss implications for theory development as well as future empirical work on economic preferences.