Sports Economics
Are women more risk averse than men?
Analyses with data from professional tennis.
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CONTENT
11 INTRODUCTION �
22 GENDER DIFFERENCES �
22.1 Gender differences in risk-taking �
42.2 Gender differences in competitive environments �
103 THE PROFESSIONAL TENNIS SETTING �
103.1 Basic concepts of tennis �
113.2 Why reverting to data from professional tennis? �
123.3 The professional tennis setting in economic research �
143.4 Gender differences in professional tennis: exemplary analyses with focus on risk aversion �
204 CONCLUSION �
22ANNEX �
29REFERENCES �
34EIDESSTATTLICHE ERKLÃÂRUNG �
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INTRODUCTION
Women appear to have closed the gender gap in education. Around 60 per cent of all graduate degrees that were awarded in America in 2008 and 2009 were given to women. However one still observes striking inequality in terms of earnings. Interestingly enough, women are still paid less than men in equivalent job positions.
Risk
Dangerous Risk Adrenaline Suicide by Fear of Falli...
38.0 °C - digital display of human body temperatu...Moreover, only few women reach top positions in big companies (de Vise 2010) As found in e.g. the financial decision making context, women are more risk aware and more risk averse than men. Can the gender gap in the labor market be explained by a gender difference in risk-attitudes?
Paserman (2007, 2010) describes a professional tennis match on a meta-level as a competition of two players, in which large monetary rewards are involved. Parallels from the professional sports setting to the labor market are obvious: In the working place as well the HR department wants to select the most able workers only. For instance in sales, tournament-like payment structures are a widespread mechanism to award employees' for performance. With regard to the risk-taking focus of this paper, "risk and uncertainty are pervasive in economic life, playing a role in almost...