Arbeitspapier

Social comparison and gender differences in risk taking

The present paper contributes to the controversy regarding gender differences in risk taking by investigating the impact of social comparison. Social comparison is formalized by integrating a social reference point into the model of Köszegi and Rabin. Drawing on previous results from evolutionary biology, we hypothesize that men (women) focus more on relative (absolute) income, i.e., the relative weight of social gain-loss utility is higher for men than for women. Our model predicts that risk taking is higher for correlated than for uncorrelated risks and that this effect is stronger for men than for women. These predictions are confirmed by a simple classroom experiment. We conclude that social comparison and the correlation of risks play an important role in the discussion of gender differences in risk taking.

Language
Englisch

Bibliographic citation
Series: Kiel Working Paper ; No. 2011

Classification
Wirtschaft
Design of Experiments: Laboratory, Individual
Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
Subject
risk taking
gender differences
correlation of risks
social reference point

Event
Geistige Schöpfung
(who)
Schmidt, Ulrich
Friedl, Andreas
Lima de Miranda, Katharina
Event
Veröffentlichung
(who)
Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)
(where)
Kiel
(when)
2015

Handle
Last update
10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET

Data provider

This object is provided by:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.

Object type

  • Arbeitspapier

Associated

  • Schmidt, Ulrich
  • Friedl, Andreas
  • Lima de Miranda, Katharina
  • Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW)

Time of origin

  • 2015

Other Objects (12)