Abstract
It has been shown that living in risky environments, as well as having a risky occupation, can moderate risk-tolerance. Despitethe involvement of dopamine in the expectation of reward described by neurobiologists, a GWAS study was not able todemonstrate a genetic contribution of genes involved in the dopaminergic pathway in risk attitudes and gene candidate studiesgave contrasting results. We test the possibility that a genetic effect of the DRD4-7R allele in risk-taking behavior could bemodulated by environmental factors. We show that the increase in risk-tolerance due to the 7R allele is independent of theenvironmental risk in two populations in Northern Senegal, one of which is exposed to a very high risk due to dangerous fishing.