Sex Matters: Gender Bias in the Mutual Fund Industry

Niessen-Ruenzi, Alexandra; Ruenzi, Stefan

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1957317

Download This Paper

Open PDF in Browser

Add Paper to My Library

Sex Matters: Gender Bias in the Mutual Fund Industry

50 Pages Posted: 9 Nov 2011 Last revised: 31 Aug 2017

See all articles by Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi

Alexandra Niessen-Ruenzi

University of Mannheim, Department of Finance; University of Mannheim - Department of Finance

Stefan Ruenzi

University of Mannheim - Department of International Finance

Date Written: August 30, 2017

Abstract

We document significantly lower inflows in female-managed funds than in male-managed funds. This result is obtained with field data and with data from a laboratory experiment. We find no gender differences in performance. Thus, rational statistical discrimination is unlikely to explain the fund flow effect. We conduct an implicit association test and find that subjects with stronger gender bias according to this test invest significantly less in female-managed funds. Our results suggest that gender bias affects investment decisions and thus offer a new potential explanation for the low fraction of women in the mutual fund industry.

Keywords: Mutual Funds; Investor Behavior; Gender Bias; Implicit Association Test

JEL Classification: G23, J71

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Niessen-Ruenzi, Alexandra and Niessen-Ruenzi, Alexandra and Ruenzi, Stefan, Sex Matters: Gender Bias in the Mutual Fund Industry (August 30, 2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1957317 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1957317