Risk Aversion and Implicit Bias

This paper studies risk aversion as an influential construct in implicit bias testing, and one that has been previously overlooked in the literature. In it, I adapt a model of internal validity and apply it to the impact that risk preferences have on implicit bias. I then implement a laboratory experiment to gauge implicit bias as measured by the implicit association test (IAT). I structurally estimate subjects' attitudes towards risk. In testing said model, I find that higher levels of risk aversion are associated with stronger implicit bias scores. This result is robust to a variety of econometric specifications and thus lends support to previous critiques of IAT validity