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http://hdl.handle.net/10419/58899
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| Title: | | Gender differences in risk aversion: Do single-sex environments affect their development?  |
| Authors: | | Booth, Alison Sosa, Lina Cardona Nolen, Patrick |
| Issue Date: | | 2011 |
| Series/Report no.: | | Discussion Paper series, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit 6133 |
| Abstract: | | Single-sex classes within coeducational environments are likely to modify students' risk-taking attitudes in economically important ways. To test this, we designed a controlled experiment using first year college students who made choices over real-stakes lotteries at two distinct dates. Students were randomly assigned to classes of three types: all female, all male, and coeducational. They were not allowed to change group subsequently. We found that women are less likely to make risky choices than men at both dates. However, after eight weeks in a single-sex environment, women were significantly more likely to choose the lottery than their counterparts in coeducational groups. These results are robust to the inclusion of controls for IQ and for personality type, as well as to a number of sensitivity tests. Our findings suggest that observed gender differences in behaviour under uncertainty found in previous studies might partly reflect social learning rather than inherent gender traits. |
| Subjects: | | gender risk preferences single-sex groups cognitive ability |
| JEL: | | C9 C91 C92 J16 D01 D80 J16 J24 |
| Persistent Identifier of the first edition: | | urn:nbn:de:101:1-201112136855 |
| Document Type: | | Working Paper |
| Appears in Collections: | | IZA Discussion Papers, Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA)
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