The Case for Single-Sex Trading Floors
Maybe the reason why we had fewer financial crises in past is that we didn’t have co-ed trading floors. Okay, it’s a theory.
Are people more risk-taking in the presence of the opposite sex?
This paper investigates whether exposure to the opposite sex induces greater risk-taking in both males and females. Experimental subjects evaluated a series of hypothetical monetary gambles before and after viewing pictures of opposite sex faces; control subjects viewed pictures of cars. Both males and females viewing opposite sex photos displayed a significant increase in risk tolerance, whereas the control subjects exhibited no significant change. Surprisingly, the attractiveness of the photo had no effect; subjects viewing photographs of attractive opposite sex persons displayed similar results as those viewing photographs of unattractive people.
Patrick McAlvanah
Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Economics
Journal of Economic Psychology