Gender disparities in financial risk-taking: how cultural superstitions shape women’s investment behavior in China

This study examines how cultural superstitions create gender-specific barriers to women’s financial participation in China, a critical issue for economic development and gender equality. Utilizing a unique dataset from the Ant Open Research Laboratory—tracking 100,000 investors over 48 months—we investigate how zodiac-year superstitions influence mutual fund trading and risky asset holdings. While aggregate effects are minimal, we find pronounced gender disparities: during their zodiac year, female investors significantly reduce their risky-asset purchases, transaction frequency, and portfolio risk exposure relative to men. Heterogeneity and mechanism analyses suggest these effects are driven by internal belief systems rather than external constraints, as the results are not mitigated by financial sophistication and are not accompanied by shifts in household bargaining or precautionary consumption. These findings demonstrate how deeply rooted cultural beliefs can systematically disadvantage women’s wealth accumulation. We suggest that policymakers and financial institutions must account for gender-specific cultural factors to effectively promote women’s financial inclusion in developing economies.