The Origins of Gender Differences in Competitiveness and Earnings Expectations: Causal Evidence from a Mentoring Intervention

Teodora Boneva (tboneva@uni-bonn.de), Thomas Buser, Armin Falk and Fabian Kosse (fabian.kosse@econ.lmu.de)
Additional contact information
Teodora Boneva: University of Bonn
Fabian Kosse: LMU Munich

No 2021-049, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: We present evidence on the role of the social environment for the development of gender differences in competitiveness and earnings expectations. First, we document that the gender gap in competitiveness and earnings expectations is more pronounced among adolescents with low socioeconomic status (SES). We further document that there is a positive association between the competitiveness of mothers and their daughters, but not between the competitiveness of mothers and their sons. Second, we show that a randomized mentoring intervention that exposes low-SES children to predominantly female role models causally affects girls' willingness to compete and narrows both the gender gap in competitiveness as well as the gender gap in earnings expectations. Together, the results highlight the importance of the social environment in shaping willingness to compete and earnings expectations at a young age.

Keywords: competitiveness; socioeconomic status; Inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 J13 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-exp, nep-gen and nep-lab
Note: ECI, IP
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Boneva ... ff-competiveness.pdf First version, October, 2021 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Origins of Gender Differences in Competitiveness and Earnings Expectations: Causal Evidence from a Mentoring Intervention (2024)
Working Paper: The Origins of Gender Differences in Competitiveness and Earnings Expectations: Causal Evidence from a Mentoring Intervention (2022)
Working Paper: The origins of gender differences in competitiveness and earnings expectations: Causal evidence from a mentoring intervention (2022)
Working Paper: The Origins of Gender Differences in Competitiveness and Earnings Expectations: Causal Evidence from a Mentoring Intervention (2021)
Working Paper: The Origins of Gender Differences in Competitiveness and Earnings Expectations: Causal Evidence from a Mentoring Intervention (2021)
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