This dissertation consists of five essays contributing to a better understanding of three fundamental lines of research in behavioral economics: trust and cooperation in social interactions, gender discrimination, and decision making under risk and uncertainty. All essays are novel contributions...

Being the leader in a group often involves making risky decisions that affect the payoffs of all members, and the decision to take this responsibility in a group is endogenous in many contexts. In this paper, we experimentally study: (1) the willingness of men and women to make risky decisions...

This paper explores the effect of personality traits on: (1) the willingness to make risk-taking decisions on behalf of a group, (2) the nature of "choice shifts", i.e. the difference between the amount of risk taken in the group context and individually. Openness and agreeableness emerge as...

This study contributes to the public debate on gender quotas and the literature on gender and risk taking by analysing how the level of risk taking within a group is influenced by its gender composition. In particular we look at the shift of risk taking between group and individual decisions and...