The Gender Reference Point Gap

Nathan Kettlewell, Jonathan Levy, Agnieszka Tymula and Xueting Wang ()
Additional contact information
Jonathan Levy: University of Sydney
Xueting Wang: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

No 16138, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Studies have frequently found that women are more risk averse than men. In this paper, we depart from usual practice in economics that treats risk attitude as a primitive, and instead adopt a neuroeconomic approach where risk attitude is determined by the reference point which can be easily estimated using standard econometric methods. We then evaluate whether there is a gender difference in the reference point, explaining the gender difference in risk aversion observed using traditional approaches. In our study, women make riskier choices less frequently than men. Compared to men, we find that women on average have a significantly lower reference point. By acknowledging the reference point as a potential source of gender inequality, we can begin a new discussion on how to address this important issue.

Keywords: reference point; risk attitude; neuroeconomics; gender; inequality; experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C90 D87 D91 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 43 pages
Date: 2023-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-gen, nep-lab and nep-upt
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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