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Do Women Prefer Pink? : The Effect of a Gender Stereotypical Stock Portfolio on Investing Decisions

Author

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  • Prast, H.M.

    (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management)

  • Rossi, M.
  • Torricelli, C.
  • Druta, C.

Abstract

We investigate whether lack of familiarity may contribute to an explanation of the gender gap in stock market participation and risk taking. We use ads in widely read women magazines to select companies that we assume to be more familiar to women than to men, and construct a “pink” portfolio. We construct a “blue” portfolio by selecting stocks from the AEX index. We ask members of the CentERpanel how they would allocate 100.000 euro of pension wealth. Half of respondents are given the choice between government bonds and a portfolio consisting of companies most traded at Amsterdam Exchanges, while the other half can choose between government bonds and our “pink” portfolio. We find that significantly more women than men choose not to respond after having seen the question and that respondents tend to allocate their hypothetical savings fifty-fifty over stocks and bonds. This could be interpreted either as going for the default choice or the 1/n heuristic. We find a pink portfolio effect among older women, and a significant of framing which is larger for women than for men. We also find that women who already own stocks allocate significantly more to the stock basket than women who do not, which may be interpreted as an effect of familiarity. We find no such effect among men. Our evidence does not show that lack of familiarity with the large companies most traded at the Amsterdam stock exchange explains the gender gap in participation and portfolio choice. What we do find, however, is that a pink portfolio reduces decision time for women, and results in women deciding quicker than men.
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Suggested Citation

  • Prast, H.M. & Rossi, M. & Torricelli, C. & Druta, C., 2014. "Do Women Prefer Pink? : The Effect of a Gender Stereotypical Stock Portfolio on Investing Decisions," Other publications TiSEM f4256476-6503-4459-ba12-6, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
  • Handle: RePEc:tiu:tiutis:f4256476-6503-4459-ba12-633d10f0343d
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Hochgürtel, S. & Alessie, R.J.M. & van Soest, A.H.O., 1997. "Savings accounts vs. stocks and bonds in household portfolio allocation," Other publications TiSEM 0839bf0f-307e-4016-acc1-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
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    6. Huberman, Gur, 2001. "Familiarity Breeds Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 659-680.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bannier, Christina E. & Neubert, Milena, 2016. "Gender differences in financial risk taking: The role of financial literacy and risk tolerance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 130-135.
    2. Wang, Qian & Wang, Jun & Gao, Feng, 2021. "Who is more important, parents or children? Economic and environmental factors and health insurance purchase," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    3. Prast, Henriette & Sanders, José & Boggio, C., 2017. "Seven ways to knit your portfolio: Is the language of investor communication gender neutral?," Other publications TiSEM b477bb2d-f71c-4b9b-ab9e-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Rossi, Mariacristina & Sansone, Dario & van Soest, Arthur & Torricelli, Costanza, 2019. "Household preferences for socially responsible investments," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 107-120.
    5. Dylla, Carolin & Ries, Dorothea & Schütt, Karolina, 2024. "Is there no women in investment?," IPE Working Papers 236/2024, Berlin School of Economics and Law, Institute for International Political Economy (IPE).
    6. Laurentiu-Cristian Ciobotaru & Sul Kim & Arthur Soest, 2021. "Household Preferences for Investing in Crowdfunding," De Economist, Springer, vol. 169(4), pages 499-522, November.
    7. Cecilia Boggio & Elsa Fornero & Henriette Prast & Jose Sanders, 2014. "Seven Ways to Knit Your Portfolio: Is Investor Communication Neutral?," CeRP Working Papers 140, Center for Research on Pensions and Welfare Policies, Turin (Italy).
    8. Boggio, C. & Fornero, E. & Prast, H.M. & Sanders, J., 2015. "Seven Ways to Knit Your Portfolio : Is Investor Communication Neutral?," Other publications TiSEM 81e1098a-af2d-4107-a298-a, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    9. Jürg Hari & Elisabeth Pirsch & Heike Rawitzer, 2018. "Women are scaredy-cats and men are conquerors?," Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 128-139, June.
    10. Tina Vohra & Mandeep Kaur, 2018. "Determining Reasons for Lower Participation of Women in Indian Stock Market: A Comparative Study of Stock Investors and Non-investors," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 7(2), pages 87-102, December.
    11. Dragos, Simona Laura & Dragos, Cristian Mihai & Muresan, Gabriela Mihaela, 2020. "From intention to decision in purchasing life insurance and private pensions: different effects of knowledge and behavioural factors," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    12. Maria Cristina Rossi & Dario Sansone & Costanza Torricelli & Arthur van Soest, 2018. "Household Preferences for Socially Responsible Investments," Centro Studi di Banca e Finanza (CEFIN) (Center for Studies in Banking and Finance) 18021, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Dipartimento di Economia "Marco Biagi".
    13. Heena Thanki & Sweety Shah & Vrajlal Sapovadia & Ankit D. Oza & Dumitru Doru Burduhos-Nergis, 2022. "Role of Gender in Predicting Determinant of Financial Risk Tolerance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(17), pages 1-13, August.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G02 - Financial Economics - - General - - - Behavioral Finance: Underlying Principles
    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • M30 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Marketing and Advertising - - - General

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