Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
10-2024
Abstract
We arranged for trained undercover men and women to pose as potential clients and visit all 65 local financial advisory firms in Hong Kong. At financial planning firms, but not at securities firms, women were more likely than men to receive advice to buy only individual or only local securities. Female clients who signaled high confidence, high risk tolerance, or a domestic outlook were especially likely to receive this suboptimal advice. Our theoretical model explains these patterns as a result of statis-tical discrimination interacting with advisors’ incentives. Taste-based discrimination is unlikely to explain the results.
Keywords
audit study, gender, financial advice, securities firm, financial planner, risk tolerance, confidence, geographic outlook
Discipline
Finance | Finance and Financial Management | Gender and Sexuality
Research Areas
Finance
Areas of Excellence
Finance and Financial Markets
Publication
Journal of Finance
Volume
79
Issue
5
First Page
2905
Last Page
3677
ISSN
0022-1082
Identifier
10.1111/jofi.13366
Publisher
Wiley
Citation
BHATTACHARYA, Utpal; KUMAR, Amit; VISARIA, Sujata; and ZHAO, Jing.
Do women receive worse financial advice?. (2024). Journal of Finance. 79, (5), 2905-3677.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7042
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/jofi.13366