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Gender and Risk-Taking in the Building of U.S. Retirement Wealth

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  • Christos I. Giannikos

    (The City University of New York (CUNY)
    The City University of New York (CUNY))

  • Efstathia D. Korkou

    (The City University of New York (CUNY))

Abstract

The growing weight being placed on self-directed retirement accounts within the United States retirement income policy framework, and the time inconsistency challenge of individuals, particularly women, tending to under-invest in retirement savings accounts motivated the current work. Using data from the United States Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances, for a period spanning from 1989 to 2019, 11 cross-sections of data, the paper investigated the role of gender in United States retirement risk-taking investment strategies of single (never married) individuals. The analysis documented increasing trends in the risk-taking of both single women and single men but recorded differences in the risk-taking profiles of the two groups, with single men taking more risk than single women in their retirement wealth building in most cross-sections, with the gender risk-taking gap dropping, nonetheless, algebraically in magnitude from 1989 to 2019.

Suggested Citation

  • Christos I. Giannikos & Efstathia D. Korkou, 2023. "Gender and Risk-Taking in the Building of U.S. Retirement Wealth," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 51(4), pages 259-274, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:atlecj:v:51:y:2023:i:4:d:10.1007_s11293-023-09789-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s11293-023-09789-2
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender; Sex; Retirement investment; Single-person households; Financial risk-taking; Survey of consumer finances;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J26 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Retirement; Retirement Policies
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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