A randomized trial of the effect of estrogen and testosterone on economic behavior

Abstract

Existing correlative evidence suggests that sex hormones may affect economic behavior such as risk taking and reciprocal fairness. To test this hypothesis we conducted a double-blind randomized study. Two-hundred healthy postmenopausal women aged 50-65 years were randomly allocated to 4 weeks of treatment with estrogen, testosterone, or placebo. At the end of the treatment period, the subjects participated in a series of economic experiments that measure altruism, reciprocal fairness, trust, trustworthiness, and risk attitudes. There was no significant effect of estrogen or testosterone on any of the studied behaviors.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.

An economic experiment based on a double-blind randomized trial. Two hundred subjects completed the study; 3 subjects initially randomly assigned did not complete the study (2 in the estrogen group and 1 in the placebo group).

Fig. 2.

Mean value of serum concentration of total (nmol/L) and free testosterone (pmol/L) and estradiol (pmol/L) at baseline and 4 weeks after treatments with estrogen (E), testosterone (T) and placebo (P). Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals.

Fig. 3.

Mean values of altruism (the amount donated to charity in the dictator game), reciprocal fairness (the acceptance threshold in the ultimatum game), trust (the amount of money invested in the trust game), and trustworthiness (the backtransfer in the trust game) after 4 weeks of treatments with testosterone (T), estrogen (E), and placebo (P). Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. There are no significant differences between any of the treatment groups (Mann–Whitney U test, P > 0.05, 2-sided).

Fig. 4.

Mean values of risk aversion (the certainty equivalent to a 50/50 gamble to win SEK 400), risk investment (the amount of money hypothetically invested in a profitable but risky investment), and risk assessment (the general willingness to take risks on a 0–10 scale), after 4 weeks of treatments with testosterone (T), estrogen (E), and placebo (P). Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals. There are no significant differences between any of the treatment groups (Mann–Whitney U test, P > 0.05, 2-sided).