Gender and Risk-Taking

Jason Collins favorably reviews The Hour Between Dog and Wolf, a book by John Coates, who says that hormonal responses to success and failure serve to reinforce risk-taking and risk aversion. I note from the book description on Amazon:

Dr. John Coates identified a feedback loop between testosterone and success that dramatically lowers the fear of risk in men, especially younger men—significantly, the fear of risk is not reduced in women.

I count this as additional support for what I have said I would do if I were financial regulatory czar: change the gender of the CEO’s of the largest banks.

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One Response to Gender and Risk-Taking

  1. Kevin Dick says:

    Your last sentence makes it sound as if you’d force CEOs to undergo gender reassignment surgery. I imagine that would cut down dramatically on the number of applicants for the position. Talk about pre-commitment! But it might reduce the number of banks that meet the definition of “large”, so perhaps worth a try.

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