According to the New Scientist, a recent study of contestants on the game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? revealed that, as a group, they would have taken home more money if they’d taken more risks:
Of the 515 contestants, only three contestants went the entire way to win the £1 million. In general, participants were so risk averse that roughly two-thirds left the programme by quitting while they were ahead, while only one-third ended the game by gambling on a question they then answered incorrectly.The economists’ analysis, based around a mathematical model, suggest that more people would have won a million – and the contestants have taken home more overall – if they were less risk averse and willing to gamble. But contestants would also have suffered some staggering losses, against human nature. “Most people are not reckless,? says Lanot. “They are cautious and worry a lot about losses.”
Luckily, most entrepreneurs aren’t this risk averse.
via Ken Dyck.
Chuck on August 25th, 2005 at 10:02 am
My problem with the article is that the college funded scientist types who never risk a thing equate becoming a millionaire with GAMBLING not the calculated risk taking most entrepreneurs make.
What do you expect now that scientists aren’t Thomas Edison or Graham Bell types who depend on the government to raise their funds?
denuvian on August 21st, 2006 at 2:22 pm
I think this is kind of silly. I hope entrepreneurs look at the world around them when deciding to go on.
As with the case of this show, I submit that quite a few of the contestants said themselves “wow, these questions are harder than I thought, judging from the increasing difficulty of the questions, either the next question or the question after I will fail. It is to my advantage to stop now.”
I hope readers of this site realize when they have a good thing going that they keep it that.
ricardo mccubbin on April 27th, 2007 at 5:16 am
i want to be a millionaire