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On The Origins of Risk-Taking in Financial Markets

Author

Listed:
  • E. Black, Sandra

    (Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies, Lund University)

  • Devereux, Paul

    (Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies, Lund University)

  • Lundborg, Petter

    (Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies, Lund University)

  • Majlesi, Kaveh

    (Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies, Lund University)

Abstract

Risk-taking in financial markets is highly correlated between parents and their children; however, little is known about the extent to which these relationships are genetic or determined by environmental factors. We use data on stock market participation of Swedish adoptees and relate this to the investment behavior of both their biological and adoptive parents. We find that stock market participation of parents increases that of children by about 34% and that both pre-birth and post-birth factors are important. However, once we condition on having positive financial wealth, we find that nurture has a much stronger influence on risk-taking by children, and the evidence of a relationship between stock-holding of biological parents and their adoptive children becomes weaker. We find similar results when we study the share of financial wealth that is invested in stocks. This suggests that a substantial proportion of the transmission of risk behavior from parents to children is environmentally determined.

Suggested Citation

  • E. Black, Sandra & Devereux, Paul & Lundborg, Petter & Majlesi, Kaveh, 2015. "On The Origins of Risk-Taking in Financial Markets," Knut Wicksell Working Paper Series 2015/7, Lund University, Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:hhs:luwick:2015_007
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Intergenerational mobility; nature versus nurture; portfolio allocation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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