The economics of testosterone
The headlines about the global economic situation aren’t getting any more cheerful right now, are they? While there are many many contributing factors to a complex economic system, a group of UK researchers have suggested that there is a link between the stability of the stock market and the hormonal levels of stock market traders. [image by Petrick]
“But which is the cause and which is the effect? A further analysis showed that traders who started their days with elevated testosterone made more money than those who didn’t. One trader went on a six-day winning streak, making twice as much money each day as the previous one. Over that period, his testosterone levels rose steadily, some 74 per cent.”
The cause and effect question remains open (and probably always will do), but the article suggests that elevated hormonal levels may be very bad for the traders themselves … and that a stock market with more women trading on it might be more stable.
Amen to that.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Immersing these high testosterone traders into a sea of female pheromones on the trading floor would not lower their testosterone levels. Quite the opposite.