Gender and Risk-Taking

Julie A. Nelson is Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston and Senior Research Fellow at the Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University, USA.

'Julie Nelson’s new book is a rigorously academic bombshell, exploding the social science purportedly demonstrating that attitudes to risk meaningfully differ by gender. In clear and engaging prose, Professor Nelson authoritatively demonstrates how confirmation bias has tainted academic research on this topic, and in the process clarifies both the methodologies capable of revealing how stereotypes undermine the practice of science and the pernicious, real-world consequences.' — Mary C. King, Professor Emerita of Economics, Portland State University, USA‘A rigorous and important debunking of the notion of fundamental sex differences in financial risk-taking, and a fascinating exploration of the gendering of economic thinking.’ — Cordelia Fine, Professor of History & Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne, Australia‘Gender and Risk-Taking offers a model for how to discipline the cumulation of scientific knowledge. In this careful re-examination, Julie Nelson shows how tentative and modest in scope and statistical strength, the evidence on gender differences in risk-taking actually is.’ — Colin F. Camerer, Robert Kirby Prof. of Behavioral Economics, Caltech, USA"Nelson provides an extremely clear explanation of the methods for comparing groups’ characteristics, written at an undergraduate level and thus accessible to anyone with some understanding of statistics. The book is available in paperback and e-book formats, and the short chapters make it ideal for teaching. Part I should be assigned to students in every statistics course." -Cordelia W. Reimers, Hunter College and the Graduate School of the City University of New York.

• DedicationList of Figures and TablesAcknowledgementsIntroductionPart I. To Understand the Answer, You First Have to Have a Clear QuestionChapter 1. The Better Question: How Much Different and How Much Similar Chapter 2. Why We Get Stuck on the Bad QuestionChapter 3. Statistical Tools for Analyzing Similarity and DifferenceChapter 4. Statistical Tools for Inference and the Detection of BiasPart II. Evidence about Risk Behavior: Little Difference, Much SimilarityChapter 5. Difference and Similarity in 35 Scholarly Works Chapter 6. Difference and Similarity in 37 Investment Game Studies Part III. Evidence about Stereotyping and Confirmation Bias: RampantChapter 7. Stereotyping and Research ParticipantsChapter 8. Confirmation Bias Among Researchers in 35 Scholarly WorksChapter 9. Confirmation Bias and the Review of 37 Investment Game StudiesPart IV. Why It MattersChapter 10. Presumed Timidity: Consequences for WomenChapter 11. Recklessness: The (Masculine) Gendering of Commerce and FinanceChapter 12. Fearing Fear: The (Masculine) Gendering of Economics and PolicyConclusionIndex