18 Jul 2022

Christine Laudenbach receives funding from the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors

SAFE researcher convinces with a project on “Gender Wealth Gap” in Leibniz Competition

Christine Laudenbach, Professor of Household Finance at the Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, has won the Leibniz 2023 Competition with her research project on “The Gender Wealth Gap: Participation in Financial Markets”: Following a decision by the Senate of the Leibniz Association, her project will be funded for a period of five years by the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors after a thorough scientific review.

“The focus of our project addresses the gender wealth gap and the different activities of women and men in financial markets. Both are well-documented phenomena, so the data allow us to conclude the likely causes of women’s low participation in financial market activity. We want to use these findings to analyze whether, and if so, what possibilities there are to overcome the problem,” explains Christine Laudenbach, adding, “I am extremely pleased that the research project has been perceived and recognized as relevant by the Leibniz Association.”

An innovative combination of field trials with qualitative approaches

The statement from the Leibniz Association’s Senate Committee on Competition, in justifying the funding recommendation, said the SAFE researcher manages to create new momentum by building longitudinal data sets that are unique in their scope. Laudenbach combines “field experiments with qualitative approaches in an innovative way,” and the approach is “interdisciplinary and methodologically meticulous.”

SAFE Director Jan Pieter Krahnen welcomes the Senate’s decision and, together with Christine Laudenbach, is delighted about the funding commitment: “The extent to which gender differences influence access to stock markets and thus also the distribution of wealth is a highly topical and socially urgent question, which is addressed by an excellent researcher with Christine Laudenbach. Her publication record impressively underscores her expertise in this field, which has received important recognition through her funding commitment under the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors.”

Laudenbach has published her research in international academic journals such as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, and Management Science. Among other things, her work focuses on factors that influence households' financial decisions, particularly in the area of investing.

The Leibniz Programme for Women Professors is a funding program of the Leibniz Competition and is designed for internationally outstanding female researchers and scientists from all academic disciplines.


Scientific contact

Prof. Dr. Christine Laudenbach

Director Research Department "Household Finance"