Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58385 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 11-9
Publisher: 
University of California, Department of Economics, Davis, CA
Abstract: 
In an experiment using two-bidder first-price sealed bid auctions with symmetric independent private values and 400 subjects, we scan also the right hand of each subject. We study how the ratio of the length of the index and ring fingers (2D:4D) of the right hand, a measure of prenatal hormone exposure, is correlated with bidding behavior and total profits. 2D:4D has been reported to predict competitiveness in sports competition (Manning and Taylor, 2001, and Hoenekopp, Manning, and Mueller, 2006), risk aversion in lottery tasks (Dreber and Hoffman, 2007, Garbarino et al., 2010), and the average profitability of high-frequency traders in financial markets (Coates, Gurnell, and Rustichini, 2009). We do not find any significant correlation between 2D:4D on either bidding or profits. However, there might be racial differences in the correlation between 2D:4D and bidding and profits.
Subjects: 
Hormones
Digit ratio
2D:4D
Risk behavior
Competition
Competitive
behavior
Auctions
Bidding
Endocrinological economics
JEL: 
C72
C91
C92
D44
D81
D87
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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