Is it a boy or a girl? Newborn gender and household portfolio decisions

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of newborn gender in household investment decisions. Parenting a new baby is associated with a reduction of the share of financial wealth held as cash and an increase in risky investments. The reallocation is however gender-heterogeneous: the increase in the share of both total and financial wealth allocated to risky assets when parenting girls is reduced for households parenting boys. The effect is driven by the first child. Parents of newborn girls hold riskier portfolios because they make financial decisions influenced by their expectations on the autonomy and financial independence of newborns in adulthood.