Gender differences in risk behaviour: does nurture matter?
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.
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Availability:
- Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/isbn/9781921262807
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Corporate Authors:
Australian National University. Centre for Economic Policy Research
Canberra, ACT -
Authors:
- Booth, A L
- Nolen, P
- Publication Date: 2009-2
Language
- English
Media Info
- Pagination: 25p + appendices
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Serial:
- Issue Number: 61
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Education; Females; Laboratory studies; Males; Risk taking
- ATRI Terms: Education; Female; Laboratory study; Male; Risk taking
- Subject Areas: Education and Training;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01383924
- Record Type: Publication
- Source Agency: ARRB
- ISBN: 9781921262807
- Files: ATRI
- Created Date: Aug 22 2012 4:02PM