Risk attitudes and migration

•We find that rural-urban migrants and their family members are substantially less risk-averse than rural stayers.•We further provide evidence that individual risk attitudes are unaffected by substantial changes in the environment.•We document that risk tolerance is correlated across generations.

To contribute to a scarce literature, in particular for developing and emerging economies, we study the nature of measured risk attitudes and their consequences for migration. We also investigate whether substantial changes in the risk environment influence risk tolerance. Using the 2009 RUMiC data for China, we find that rural-urban migrants and their family members are substantially less risk-averse than stayers. We further provide suggestive evidence that individual risk attitudes are unaffected by substantial changes in the environment and that risk tolerance is correlated across generations.