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The Impact of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Economic Choice and Rationality

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  • Stephanie C Lazzaro
  • Robb B Rutledge
  • Daniel R Burghart
  • Paul W Glimcher

Abstract

It is well known that hormones affect both brain and behavior, but less is known about the extent to which hormones affect economic decision-making. Numerous studies demonstrate gender differences in attitudes to risk and loss in financial decision-making, often finding that women are more loss and risk averse than men. It is unclear what drives these effects and whether cyclically varying hormonal differences between men and women contribute to differences in economic preferences. We focus here on how economic rationality and preferences change as a function of menstrual cycle phase in women. We tested adherence to the Generalized Axiom of Revealed Preference (GARP), the standard test of economic rationality. If choices satisfy GARP then there exists a well-behaved utility function that the subject’s decisions maximize. We also examined whether risk attitudes and loss aversion change as a function of cycle phase. We found that, despite large fluctuations in hormone levels, women are as technically rational in their choice behavior as their male counterparts at all phases of the menstrual cycle. However, women are more likely to choose risky options that can lead to potential losses while ovulating; during ovulation women are less loss averse than men and therefore more economically rational than men in this regard. These findings may have market-level implications: ovulating women more effectively maximize expected value than do other groups.

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  • Stephanie C Lazzaro & Robb B Rutledge & Daniel R Burghart & Paul W Glimcher, 2016. "The Impact of Menstrual Cycle Phase on Economic Choice and Rationality," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(1), pages 1-15, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0144080
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0144080
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Eva Ranehill & Niklas Zethraeus & Liselott Blomberg & Bo von Schoultz & Angelica Lindén Hirschberg & Magnus Johannesson & Anna Dreber, 2018. "Hormonal Contraceptives Do Not Impact Economic Preferences: Evidence from a Randomized Trial," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(10), pages 4515-4532, October.
    3. Bedi, Gillinder & Burghart, Daniel R., 2018. "Is utility maximization compromised by acute intoxication with THC or MDMA?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 128-132.
    4. Lina Lozano & Arno Riedl & Christina Rott, 2024. "The Impact of the Menstrual Cycle on Bargaining Behavior," CESifo Working Paper Series 10932, CESifo.

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