Gender and Sex Dynamics in Financial Behavior

Portrait picture of Helena Fornwager


Helena Fornwagner (project member, University of Exeter)

Portrait picture of Berivan Gürel

Photo: © Oliver Wolf
Berivan Gürel (project member, University of Graz)

Portrait picture of Felix Holzmeister


Felix Holzmeister (project member, University of Innsbruck)

Portrait picture of Stefan Palan


Stefan Palan (principal investigator, project member, University of Graz)

Portrait Picture of Julia Rose


Julia Rose (project member, University of Rotterdam)

Overview

Duration: 10/2022-onging


Agenda

Research consistently underscores gender/sex disparities in financial decision-making, reporting that women are more risk-averse than men and more generally documenting that gender/sex plays a significant role in influencing financial behaviors. 

This project addresses these disparities through seven interconnected studies that explore the nuanced relationship between gender/sex and financial behavior. The studies include a) the development of a new gender scale, b) a meta-analytic review, and c) five online experiments. Through a multifaceted approach, this project aims to shed light on the complex interplay between gender/sex and financial behavior, offering a methodologically robust understanding of the drivers of financial decision-making across gender/sex groups.

The project is led by Stefan Palan (University of Graz) and is built around the PhD thesis of Berivan Gürel (University of Graz). The cooperation partners are Helena Fornwagner (University of Exeter), Felix Holzmeister (University of Innsbruck), Julia Rose (University of Rotterdam).


Project updates

2024-12-18 | Funding approved by Anniversary fund of the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB).

2024-05-07 | Data gathering for the development of a multi-dimensional gender inventory completed.

2024-03-01 | Grant proposal submitted to Austrian Science Fund (FWF).

2024-02-01 | Ethics Approval Application submitted to the Ethics Commission at the University of Graz for Study 1 "The development of a new gender scale".

2024-01-17 | Berivan Gürel presents at the Research Day of the School of Business, Economics and Social Sciences, University of Graz.

2023-12-15 | Berivan Gürel is granted the Reinhard Selten Stipendium of the Gesellschaft für Experimentelle Wirtschaftsforschung, Germany.  

2023-11-09 | Felix Holzmeister (University of Innsbruck) and Julia Rose (Erasmus University Rotterdam) join the project team.

2023-07-24 | Helena Fornwagner (University of Exeter) joins the project team.

2023-06-28 | Berivan Gürel presents at the FiRe Research Day at the University of Graz. 

2023-06-20 | Berivan Gürel is granted the dissertation scholarship, University of Graz

2023-04-25 | Stefan Palan and Berivan Gürel consult with Lisa Scheer (University of Graz) about measuring gender in finance.