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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
Are Women Really More Risk-Averse Than Men? A Re-Analysis Of The Literature Using Expanded Methods, Julie Nelson
Are Women Really More Risk-Averse Than Men? A Re-Analysis Of The Literature Using Expanded Methods, Julie Nelson
Julie A. Nelson
While a substantial literature in economics and finance has concluded that “women are more risk averse than men,” this conclusion merits investigation. After briefly clarifying the difference between making generalizations about groups, on the one hand, and making valid inferences from samples, on the other, this essay suggests improvements to how economists communicate our research results. Supplementing findings of statistical significance with quantitative measures of both substantive difference (Cohen's d, a measure in common use in non-‐Economics literatures) and of substantive overlap (the Index of Similarity, newly proposed here) adds important nuance to the discussion of sex differences. These measures …
Not-So-Strong Evidence For Gender Differences In Risk, Julie Nelson
Not-So-Strong Evidence For Gender Differences In Risk, Julie Nelson
Julie A. Nelson
In their article "Strong Evidence for Gender Differences in Risk Taking," Gary Charness and Uri Gneezy (2012) review a number of experimental studies regarding investments in risky assets, and claim that these yield strong evidence that females are more risk averse than males. This study replicates and extends their article, demonstrating that its methods are highly problematic. While the methods used would be appropriate for categorical, individual-‐level differences, the data reviewed are not consistent with such a model. Instead, modest differences (at most) exist only at aggregate levels, such as group means. The evidence in favor of gender difference is …
Fearing Fear: Gender And Economic Discourse, Julie Nelson
Fearing Fear: Gender And Economic Discourse, Julie Nelson
Julie A. Nelson
Economic discourse—or the lack of it—about fear is gendered on at least three fronts. First, while masculine-‐associated notions of reason and mind have historically been prioritized in mainstream economics, fear—along with other emotions and embodiment—has tended to be culturally associated with femininity. Research on cognitive "gender schema," then, may at least partly explain the near absence of discussions of fear within economic research. Second, in the rare cases where fear is discussed in the contemporary economics literature, there is a tendency to (overly-‐)strongly associate it with women. Finally, historians and philosophers of science have suggested that the failure to consider …
Is Dismissing The Precautionary Principle The Manly Thing To Do? Gender And The Economics Of Climate Change, Julie Nelson
Is Dismissing The Precautionary Principle The Manly Thing To Do? Gender And The Economics Of Climate Change, Julie Nelson
Julie A. Nelson
Many public debates about climate change now focus on the economic "costs" of taking action. When called on to advise about these, many leading mainstream economists downplay the need for care and caution on climate issues, forecasting a future with infinitely continued economic growth. This essay highlights the roles of binary metaphors and cultural archetypes in creating the highly gendered, sexist, and age-ist attitudes that underlie this dominant advice. Gung-ho economic growth advocates aspire to the role of The Hero, rejecting the conservatism of The Old Wife. But in a world that is not actually as safe and predictable as …
A Gay Date With History: A History Of The Boston Lgbt Film Festival, Andrew Elder
A Gay Date With History: A History Of The Boston Lgbt Film Festival, Andrew Elder
Andrew Elder
George Mansour has been booking film in Boston-area movie theaters for 46 years. In the early 1980s, in addition to booking films for more mainstream commercial and art movie houses like the Orson Welles in Cambridge and the Nickelodeon just outside Kenmore Square, Mansour booked films for the South Station Cinema, a gay porn house in Boston. His work for the South Station Cinema, Mansour told The History Project in a recent interview, was the catalyst for what would become the Boston LGBT Film Festival.