Gender Gap in Personal Bankruptcy Risks: Empirical Evidence from Singapore

Sumit Agarwal, Jia He, Tien Foo Sing, Jian Zhang

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    12 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Gender gap can arise due to various factors-socio-economic, culture, risk attitudes, and macro-economic circumstances. Using a unique dataset that merges motor vehicle events with bankruptcy outcomes and personal data from Singapore, this study finds significant evidence of a gender gap in personal bankruptcy risk. We show that women's odds of being involved in bankruptcy events are 28% of those of men after controlling for demographic variables, housing type, cultural and spatial fixed effects. Using motor vehicle accidents as an instrument, we confirm that the gender gap in bankruptcy risk is mainly driven by risk-taking behavior. The heterogeneity analyses show that culture also explains part of the difference. Chinese, Indian, and Malay women have differential bankruptcy rates in Singapore.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)813-847
    Number of pages35
    JournalReview of Finance
    Volume22
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2018

    Scopus Subject Areas

    • Accounting
    • Finance
    • Economics and Econometrics

    User-Defined Keywords

    • Gender gap
    • Household finance
    • Motor vehicle accident risks
    • Personal bankruptcy events
    • Risk attitude

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Gender Gap in Personal Bankruptcy Risks: Empirical Evidence from Singapore'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this