Sex Matters: Gender Bias in the Mutual Fund Industry

Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi () and Stefan Ruenzi
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Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi: University of Mannheim, 68131 Mannheim, Germany

Management Science, 2019, vol. 65, issue 7, 3001-3025

Abstract: We document significantly lower inflows in female-managed funds than in male-managed funds. This result is obtained with field data and with data from a laboratory experiment. We find no gender differences in performance. Thus, rational statistical discrimination is unlikely to explain the fund flow effect. We conduct an implicit association test and find that subjects with stronger gender bias according to this test invest significantly less in female-managed funds. Our results suggest that gender bias affects investment decisions and thus offer a new potential explanation for the low fraction of women in the mutual fund industry.

Keywords: mutual funds; investor behavior; gender bias; implicit association test (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (44)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:65:y:2019:i:7:p:3001-3025

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