Economics Research Seminar Series: Jane Zhang

The gender gap in competitive outperformance and STEM choice. Associate Prof. Jane Zhang, UNSW. 

In this paper we propose a novel mechanism to explain the gender gap in STEM participation. Using administrative data from China's High School Entrance Examination (HSEE), scores on low-stakes mock exams, and choice of STEM versus non-STEM track in high school, we find that consistent with previous lab and field findings, in STEM subjects boys outperform girls in the competitive high school entrance exam relative to their performance in a similar but low-stakes mock exam taken one month prior.  However, in non-STEM subjects, the gender gap is reversed, suggesting that which gender has a higher performance response to competition depends crucially on the task.  Importantly, competitive outperformance can account for a quarter of the remaining gender gap in choosing STEM track in high school, after controlling for known determinants of STEM participation including STEM ability, classroom environment, and comparative advantage in STEM (relative to non-STEM subjects).   

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