Reports from City University of New York (CUNY) Highlight Recent Research in Risk Management (Are Women More Risk Averse? A Sequel): Insurance – Risk Management

Insurance Daily News

2025 FEB 12 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on risk management is the subject of a new report. According to news originating from New York City, New York, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “This paper reexamines the question of gender differences in financial relative risk aversion using updated methods and data.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from City University of New York (CUNY): “Specifically, the paper revisits the 1998 work ‘Are women more risk averse?’ by Jianakoplos and Bernasek, suggests refinements in their model in relation to the database used, namely the U.S. Federal Reserve Board’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF), and performs new tests on the latest SCF from 2022. The suggested refinements pertain first to an enhanced computation of wealth, which includes additional categories of assets such as 401(k)s or other thrift savings accounts, and second to the more subtle handling and consideration of specific demographic data of the SCF respondents. Unlike the original study, which also included married couples, the new study focuses exclusively on single-headed (never-married) households. This eliminates ambiguity about the actual financial decision maker in households, enabling a clearer assessment of individual gendered behavior. Following the refinements, the new tests reveal a continuing pattern of decreasing relative risk aversion; however, contrary to the 1998 findings, there is no significant gender difference in financial relative risk aversion in 2022.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This study also documents that education levels strongly influence risk-taking: single women with higher education levels are more likely to hold risky assets, while for men, higher education correlates with less risk-taking. The paper concludes by informing policymakers and financial educators so as to further tailor their strategies for promoting gender equality in financial decision-making.”

For more information on this research see: Are Women More Risk Averse? A Sequel. Risks, 2025,13(1):12. (Risks - http://www.mdpi.com/journal/risks). The publisher for Risks is MDPI AG.

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/risks13010012.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Christos I. Giannikos, Bert Wasserman Department of Economics & Finance, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, City University of New York (CUNY), New York, NY 10010, United States. Additional authors for this research include Efstathia D. Korkou.