Portfolio choice: evidence from new-borns

This paper analyzes the role of newborn gender in households’ investment decisions. The results indicate that newborn gender is a significant predictor of both the reallocation of financial wealth across different types of financial assets and households’ investment diversification. Parenting a new baby boy is associated with a higher reallocation of wealth towards cash while the share of financial wealth allocated to risky assets decreases. A new baby boy also significantly reduces the magnitude of portfolio diversification. We find no evidence that the relationship between newborn gender and investment allocation is driven by third variables that simultaneously affect gender and financial decisions. The relationship between newborn gender and the financial decision is particularly relevant to disentangle unconscious gender bias in households’ investment decisions.