Gender, age, and competition: A disappearing gap?

Jeffrey Flory, Uri Gneezy, Kenneth Leonard () and John List

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2018, vol. 150, issue C, 256-276

Abstract: Research on competitiveness at the individual level has emphasized sex as a physiological determinant, focusing on the gap in preference for competitive environments between men and women. This study presents evidence that women's preferences over competition change with age such that the gender gap, while large for young adults, disappears in older populations due to the fact that older women are much more competitive. Our finding that tastes for competition appear just as strong among older women as they are among men suggests a simple gender-based view of competitiveness is misleading; age seems just as important as sex.

Keywords: Competitiveness; Gender; Age; Field experiment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C93 J16 J19 J33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (34)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Gender, Age, and Competition: a Disappearing Gap? (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:150:y:2018:i:c:p:256-276

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2018.03.027

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