Researchers have recently discovered that the anabolic-androgenic steroid testosterone may be responsible for “irrational exuberance” that leads to the stock market bubbles that precipitate market crashes (“Male sex hormone may affect stock trades,” April 14).
The hormone that drives male aggression and sexual interest also seems able to boost short term success at finance. But what seems to start out well can turn bad, with elevated testosterone levels over several days possibly leading to irrational risk-taking, according to researchers at the University of Cambridge in England.
Researchers issued recommendations that individuals with low testosterone levels should manage financial markets.
“If people want to get practical, it would be good for both banks and the financial system as a whole if we had more women and older men in the markets,” said John M. Coates, lead author of a study appearing in this week’s issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Such a change would produce a much more stable financial system, said Coates, a research fellow in the university’s department of physiology, development and neuroscience.
Another anabolic steroids (testosterone) at the root of society’s problems…
(Hat tip to Philip Sweitzer for the story.)
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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