Gender gap in investment performance revisited: The role of attention

Abstract

This paper revisits the effect of gender on portfolio performance, exploring the hypothesis that investors may derive fewer benefits from increased financial attention due to disparities in financial confidence. Using data from trading accounts of over 745,000 investors, we find that the difference in investment performance between men and women depends on the level of attention that they pay to their portfolios. Furthermore, our results indicate that the positive effects of investor attention are primarily attributable to young men, who appear to benefit the most from heightened attentiveness.