Women on Board: Does Boardroom Gender Diversity Affect Firm Risk?
65 Pages Posted: 16 Jan 2014 Last revised: 16 Jun 2019
Date Written: 2016
Abstract
We investigate the relationship between boardroom gender diversity and firm risk. To identify a causal effect of gender on risk, we use a dynamic model that controls for reverse causality and for gender and risk being influenced by unobservable firm factors. We find no evidence that female boardroom representation influences equity risk. We also show that findings of a negative relationship between the two variables are spurious and driven by unobserved between-firm heterogeneous factors.
Keywords: board of directors, gender diversity, equity risk, endogeneity
JEL Classification: G10, G34
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation