Millions undergo yearly biological change, shrouded in misinformation and taboo, with minimal understanding of its impact on their economic decision-making (1). This is how life looks like for menopausal women, who experience a physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being transformation (2). Menopause is 'the permanent cessation of menstruation due to the decline in ovarian follicular activity' (3), broadly also including Peri- and Postmenopause. It causes symptoms like poor cognitive performance (brain fog), hot flushes, low mood, anxiety, and difficulty sleeping (2).
Until now, research focused solely on biology and medicine in the context of menopause, neglecting economic decisions and their complex interplay with hormonal changes, emotions, and biases (see, e.g., (4)). This project is the first to bridge this gap by applying a behavioural economics lens, delving into how menopause influences decision-making besides well-being and health outcomes. With nearly half the global population female (5) and the projected rise of 1.2 billion menopausal women by 2030 (6), understanding the economic implications of menopause matters - for women, society, policymakers, and businesses, as, e.g., menopause reduces women's economic participation (7), the menopause market is expected to be worth $24.4 billion by 2030 (8), and public interest is rising (9).
This project uses economic, psychological, and health data to study holistically how menopause affects women's economic decisions. Understanding economic decisions is fundamental to individuals, institutions, and society, demanding closer examination of underlying biological and psychological factors caused by menopause like hormonal shifts, brain-structure changes, depression, and genetic backgrounds (10; 4; 11). Our project utilises innovative economic experiments by simulating real-world economic scenarios and providing monetary incentives. This method is supplemented by health surveys and genetic data to understand how menopause influences women's economic choices (risk, investment, etc.). The goal is to develop targeted interventions based on our findings to empower menopausal women and improve their lives.
Working with the Avon data is central to our project. We will use the funding we currently apply for to collect data on economic behaviour (a central agenda of the project) and link it to genetic data as well as other health data captured in the Avon database. Understanding how menopausal women make economic choices is especially important, as menopause involves, e.g., financial changes like retirement planning and investment decisions. For example, when it comes to risky behaviour, we hypothesise that menopausal women are more risk-averse due to hormonal changes compared to women during their productive years and men older than 40. We will measure behaviour using the established questions from the preference module and compare the behaviour of menopausal women to people of other age groups and genders.
The preference module is a concise, experimentally validated survey designed to measure risk aversion, time discounting, trust, altruism, and positive and negative reciprocity. These preferences influence individuals' choices across various situations. This module provides standardised measures suitable for all popular data collection methods, making it a valuable tool for numerous applications. Preference measures enhance the prediction of significant economic behaviours and can serve as control variables for identifying causal effects of other factors correlated with preferences.

The development of the preference module is detailed in:
Falk, Armin, et al. "The preference survey module: A validated instrument for measuring risk, time, and social preferences." Management Science 69.4 (2023): 1935-1950.
Menopause and its transition occupy a significant portion of a woman’s life (13). This project offers a timely and cutting-edge approach, promising impactful results that improve lives, inform policy, and empower women to thrive through all stages of their journey.

1. The demography of menopause. Hill, Kenneth. 113-127, : Maturitas, 1996, Vol. 23.2.
2. NHS. NHS. Symptoms Menopause. [Online] 17 May 2022. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/menopause/symptoms/.
3. WHO. Menopause. World Health Organization. [Online] 17 October 2022. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/menopause.
4. Menopause impacts human brain structure, connectivity, energy metabolism, and amyloid-beta deposition. Mosconi, Lisa, Valentina Berti, Jonathan Dyke, Eva Schelbaum, Steven Jett, Lacey Loughlin, Grace Jang et al. 2021, Scientific reports, p. 10867.
5. The World Bank. The World Bank Data. Population, female (% of total population). [Online] 2022. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL.FE.ZS.
6. Social Determinants of Health in Menopause: An Integrative Review. Namazi, Masoumeh, Sadeghi, Rasoul and Behboodi Moghadam, Zahra. 2019, International journal of women's health, pp. 637-647.
7. Brewis, Joanna, et al. The effects of menopause transition on women’s economic participation in the UK. s.l. : Department for Education, 2027.
8. Grand View Research. Menopause Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Treatment (Dietary Supplements, OTC Pharma Products), By Region (North America, Europe, Latin America), And Segment Forecasts, 2024 - 2030. [Online] 2024. [Cited: 18 February 2024.] https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/menopause-market#men....
9. Google Trends. Google Trends. Searching "menopause" Worldwide and for the UK. [Online] 15 February 2024. https://trends.google.co.uk/trends/explore?date=today%205-y&q=menopause&....
10. Elevated body temperature is associated with depressive symptoms: results from the TemPredict Study. Mason, Ashley E., et al. 1884, s.l. : Scientific Reports , 2024, Vol. 14.1.
11. An experiment on risk taking and evaluation periods. Gneezy, Uri and Potters, Jan. s.l. : The quarterly journal of economics, 1997, Vols. 112.2, 631-645.
12. National Office for Statistics. Office for National Statistics. National life tables – life expectancy in the UK: 2018 to 2020. [Online] 23 September 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarri....
13. Brains, hormones, and genes: Introduction to the special issue on the biological foundations of economic decision-making. Fairley, Kim, Fornwagner, Helena and Okbay, Aysu. s.l. : Journal of Economic Psychology, 2023, Vol. 102683.