Gender Differences in Optimism and Asset Allocation

Ben Jacobsen, John Lee, Wessel Marquering, Cherry Y Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

We investigate two alternative explanations why men may hold more stocks than women do. Apart from the traditional explanation of a gender difference in risk aversion, gender differences in either optimism or in perceived risk of financial markets might cause men to hold riskier assets. Our results show that men tend to be significantly more optimistic than women regarding a broad range of issues, including the economy and financial markets. After we take differences in optimism into account, systematic gender differences in asset allocations disappear.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)630-651
JournalJournal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Volume107
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2014

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • optimism
  • gender difference
  • asset allocation
  • consumer confidence
  • economic indicators
  • risk aversion

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