Written By: Alexandra Bernasek and Vickie L. Bajtelsmit

This study reports empirical results based on an original survey of household finances in which, unlike other surveys, the participants were specifically asked about their degree of involvement in financial decision making for the household. Women’s involvement in household finances is found to be significantly positively related to their share of total household income. Since the most commonly used datasets for household financial research do not identify the household decision maker, previous research on gender differences in financial decision making has been limited. This research suggests that female share of total household income could be a viable proxy for female decision makers in married couples. Keywords: Decision-making, Gender, Risk aversion, Risk tolerance

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