Gender differences in risk behaviour: does nurture matter?

Arbeitspapier

Women and men may differ in their propensity to choose a risky outcome because of innate preferences or because their innate preferences are modified by pressure to conform to gender-stereotypes. Single-sex environments are likely to modify students' risk-taking preferences in economically important ways. To test this, our controlled experiment gave subjects an opportunity to choose a risky outcome - a real-stakes gamble with a higher expected monetary value than the alternative outcome with a certain payoff - and in which the sensitivity of observed risk choices to environmental factors could be explored. The results show that girls from single-sex schools are as likely to choose the real-stakes gamble as much as boys from either coed or single sex schools, and more likely than coed girls. Moreover, gender differences in preferences for risk-taking are sensitive to the gender mix of the experimental group, with girls being more likely to choose risky outcomes when assigned to all-girl groups. This suggests that observed gender differences in behaviour under uncertainty found in previous studies might reflect social learning rather than inherent gender traits.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 4026

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual ; Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Group Behavior ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
• Subject: Gender identity ; controlled experiment ; risk aversion ; risk attitudes ; single-sex schooling ; coeducation ; Risikopräferenz ; Geschlecht ; Soziale Beziehungen ; Frauenbildung ; Test ; Großbritannien

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Booth, Alison L. ; Nolen, Patrick J.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2009

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/35784
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-20090306199
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:46 AM CET