Is this science or science fiction? That thought came to mind when I read that traders who were exposed to more testosterone in the womb made six times more money than their low-testosterone-level peers on very volatile trading days. So if you want to breed a trader, expose him to lots of testosterone in the womb. How do you do that? Beats me.
To determine the traders' prenatal testosterone exposure, University of Minnesota researchers measured their "2D:4D ratio" which is the relative lengths of the index and ring fingers on the right hand. Those exposed to higher levels of testosterone in the womb tend to have relatively longer ring fingers.
Based on the 2D:4D measure, researchers who studied the traders' profits over a 20-month period between 2004 and 2007, found that those with the highest in-womb testosterone exposure in the womb earned six times more than those exposed to the least. They also tended to have the longest careers, surviving about three years longer on average.
This helps the traders particularly in high volume, volatile trading, which requires intensely scanning economic data to make very fast trades involving large amounts of money.
The researchers did not say how to increase a baby's exposure to testosterone in the womb. But the study suggests that if you want to hire money-making traders; you should take the trader's 2D:4D measure during the interview process.
Peter Cohan is president of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1-13-2009 @ 12:57PM
Joseph Myers said...
After this year, while traders' ring fingers may be longer, they cannot be longer than the middle fingers which their industry has extended to the rest of us -- and which we ought to extend back.