The digit ratio (2D:4D) and economic preferences: no robust associations in a sample of 330 women

Elle Parslow, Eva Ranehill, Niklas Zethraeus, Liselott Blomberg, Bo Schoultz, Angelica Lindén Hirschberg, Magnus Johannesson and Anna Dreber
Additional contact information
Elle Parslow: Stockholm School of Economics
Eva Ranehill: University of Gothenburg
Niklas Zethraeus: Karolinska Institutet
Liselott Blomberg: Karolinska Institutet
Bo Schoultz: Karolinska Institutet
Angelica Lindén Hirschberg: Karolinska Institutet

Journal of the Economic Science Association, 2019, vol. 5, issue 2, No 2, 149-169

Abstract: Abstract Many studies report on the association between 2D:4D, a putative marker for prenatal testosterone exposure, and economic preferences. However, most of these studies have limited sample sizes and test multiple hypotheses (without preregistration). In this study we mainly replicate the common specifications found in the literature for the association between the 2D:4D ratio and risk taking, the willingness to compete, and dictator game giving separately. In a sample of 330 women we find no robust associations between any of these economic preferences and 2D:4D. We find no evidence of a statistically significant relation for 16 of the 18 total regressions we run. The two regression specifications which are statistically significant have not previously been reported and the associations are not in the expected direction, and therefore they are unlikely to represent a real effect.

Keywords: 2D:4D; Economic preferences; Experiment; Testosterone (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C91 D03 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40881-019-00076-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
Working Paper: The digit ratio (2D:4D) and economic preferences: no robust associations in a sample of 330 women (2019)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:jesaex:v:5:y:2019:i:2:d:10.1007_s40881-019-00076-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/journal/40881

DOI: 10.1007/s40881-019-00076-y

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of the Economic Science Association is currently edited by Nikos Nikiforakis and Robert Slonim

More articles in Journal of the Economic Science Association from Springer, Economic Science Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().