Deciding to decide: Gender, leadership and risk-taking in groups

► We experimentally study the willingness to make risky decisions on behalf of a group. ► A significantly lower fraction of women is willing to make group decisions than men. ► Male leaders take more risk than male non-leaders, for their own and their group. ► Female leaders and non-leaders are not different in how much risk they take. ► On average, risk taken on behalf of a group is lower than that taken individually.