Stock ownership in early twentieth-century Sweden

We combine data from subscription lists in rights offers with church records and individual tax returns to study the demography of the Swedish stock market around 1920. The typical shareholder was a middle-aged married man with a high income and university education or business affiliation. Stock ownership was gender contingent and changed over the life cycle. Men became stock market investors before they married, while women became stockholders through marriage. Men continued investing in old age, while women depleted their stock portfolios. Women who failed to marry purchased stocks to provide for their financial future. We relate these life-cycle patterns to mortality risk, migration patterns, and different opportunities for men and women. We conclude that the stock market supported family formation and female emancipation.