We study the joint impact of gender and marital status on financial decisions. First, we test the hypothesis that marriage represents - in a portfolio framework - a sort of safe asset, and that this effect is stronger for women. Controlling for a number of observable characteristics, we show...

We study the impact of gender and marital status on financial decisions using the 1989-2006 Bank of Italy Survey of Household Income and Wealth. Controlling for several characteristics of household financial heads, we find that male and married ones are more likely to invest in risky assets than...