Gender differences in revealed risk taking: evidence from mutual fund investors

    Authors

    P. D. Dwyer; J. H. Gilkeson;J. A. List

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Econ. Lett.

    Keywords

    risk taking; gender differences; Economics

    Abstract

    Using data from a national survey of nearly 2000 mutual fund investors, we investigate whether investor gender is related to risk taking as revealed in mutual fund investment decisions. Consonant with the received literature, we find that women exhibit less risk-taking than men in their most recent, largest, and riskiest mutual fund investment decisions. More importantly, we find that the impact of gender on risk taking is significantly weakened when investor knowledge of financial markets and investments is controlled in the regression equation. This result suggests that the greater level of risk aversion among women that is frequently documented in the literature can be substantially, but not completely, explained by knowledge disparities. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Economics Letters

    Volume

    76

    Issue/Number

    2

    Publication Date

    1-1-2002

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    151

    Last Page

    158

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000177172700001

    ISSN

    0165-1765

    Share

    COinS