ECO department Brownbag seminar - Confidence Under Pressure: How Men and Women Differ in Economic and Political Uncertainty

2025-05-08

12:00 PM - 1:00 PM

BS G21

Organised by Dr. Yaxiong Li

Title: Confidence Under Pressure: How Men and Women Differ in Economic and Political Uncertainty

Abstract of the presentation:

This paper documents significant persistence in the gender gap in consumer confidence, as measured by the difference between male and female sentiment indices, using monthly U.S. data from July 1985 to December 2024. To investigate this gap, we use a structure vector autoregression model incorporating three macroeconomic indicators: the unemployment rate, geopolitical risk, and economic policy uncertainty index. The analysis reveals distinct responses in consumer confidence to these macroeconomic variables, highlighting their differing impacts on male and female sentiment. While economic fundamentals, such as unemployment and economic policy uncertainty, have similar effects on both genders, geopolitical risk exerts differential influences that alter the gender confidence gap. These findings offer new insights into the dynamics of gender-based differences in consumer confidence and have implications for understanding how macroeconomic and risk factors shape consumer sentiment.

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