Gender Differences in Risk-Taking: Evidence from Professional Basketball

René Böheim, Christoph Freudenthaler and Mario Lackner

No 10011, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We analyze gender differences in risk-taking in high-pressure situations. Using novel data from professional athletes (NBA and WNBA), we find that male teams increase their risk-taking towards the end of matches when a successful risky strategy could secure winning the match. Female teams, in contrast, reduce their risk-taking in these situations. The less time left in a match, the larger is the gap. When the costs of an unsuccessful risky strategy are very large (losing the tournament), we find no increase in risk-taking for male teams.

Keywords: risk-taking; gender differences; tournament incentives (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D81 J16 L83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2016-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hrm, nep-spo and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

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Working Paper: Gender Differences in Risk-Taking: Evidence from Professional Basketball (2016)
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