Ladies and Gentlemen: Gender Identity and Financial Risk-Taking

Emma Zetterdahl () and Jörgen Hellström ()
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Emma Zetterdahl: Department of Economics, Umeå School of Business and Economics, Postal: Umeå University, S 901 87 Umeå, Sweden
Jörgen Hellström: Umeå School of Business and Economics, Postal: Umeå University, S 901 87 Umeå, Sweden

No 905, Umeå Economic Studies from Umeå University, Department of Economics

Abstract: Novel empirical evidence indicates the importance of gender identity and gender norms on individuals’ financial risk-taking. Specifically, by use of matching and by dividing male and females into those with “traditional” versus “nontraditional” gender identities, comparison of average risk-taking between groupings indicate that over a third (about 35-40%) of the identified total gender risk differential is explained by differences in gender identities. Results further indicate that risky financial market participation is 19 percentage points higher in groups of women with nontraditional, compared with traditional, gender identities. The results, obtained while conditioning upon a vast number of controls, are robust towards a large number of alternative explanations and indicate that some individuals (mainly women) partly are fostered by society, through identity formation and socially constructed norms, to a relatively lower financial risk-taking.

Keywords: Gender Identity; Financial Risk-Taking; Risky Share; Asset Allocation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D14 G02 G11 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2015-04-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme and nep-lab
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