She's built for it: differential investment performance in South Africa based on gender

Willows, Gizelle

She's built for it: differential investment performance in South Africa based on gender

Master Thesis

2012

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Finance and Tax

Faculty

Faculty of Commerce

Abstract

Research in behavioural finance has shown that individuals do not always behave rationally. As a result of this they do not make investment decisions in such a way as to maximise their expect- ed utility. Certain behavioural biases have been found to explain this behaviour. Furthermore, differences have been observed in how these biases manifest in men and women. Men have been found to be more overconfident when estimating their own skills and chances of success. Hence, they tend to exhibit stronger self-efficacy and self-attribution biases. Differentials in the risk preferences of men and women are apparent: men display higher risk tolerances and women are more risk averse. A sample of 19,021 individual investors from a South African investment house was analysed over five years (2007 - 2011) in order to draw conclusions on the trading behaviour.

Description

Includes abstract.

Includes bibliographical references.

Keywords

Financial Management

Reference:

Collections

Masters

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