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Breaking News: Male Traders Like To Take Risk

By Anonymous

It's always amusing when journalists discover that male traders?get this!?like to take on risk. Yes, and in other news, a new study says that bears tend to shit in the woods. Nick Krstoff (who I actually think is one of the best columnists around) takes his turn on this subject in his latest column:

[A recent] study also suggested that elevated testosterone levels could lead to greater assumption of risk; high testosterone levels ?may shift risk preferences and even affect a trader?s ability to engage in rational choice.? In other words: when male traders crash ... boy, they crash.
...
One of the shortcomings of any system of men sitting in front of screens making financial bets was reported last year in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, in case you missed your copy. That study found that men are particularly likely to make high-risk bets when under financial pressure and surrounded by other males of similar status.

As for women, their risk-taking was unaffected by this kind of peer pressure.

Female traders take on less risk? All 7 of them?

Full post as published by Economics of Contempt on February 08, 2009 (boomark / email).