Investment Decisions and Offspring Gender

Abstract

WP 2009-08 January 2009JEL Classification Codes: G11; D14Economic research has documented many economic affects of offspring gender on parental behavior. However, an open question exists as to whether offspring gender has any influence on parental investment decision making. Specifically, I investigate whether female offspring have an impact on investment decisions with respect to stock and bondholding. Using a panel data set, I find that for male respondents, having only female offspring increases the probability of stockholding by over 17%. In contrast, a relationship between stockholding and offspring gender was not at all present for female respondents