Culture, Institutions and the Gender Gap in Competitive Inclination: Evidence from the Communist Experiment in China

Y. Jane Zhang

The Economic Journal, 2019, vol. 129, issue 617, 509-552

Abstract: Can policy change competitive preferences? This study uses controlled laboratory settings to compare the gender gap in competitive inclination in ethnic groups exposed and exempted from communist institutional reforms that have radically changed the lives of women in China in the areas of marriage, education, work and fertility. Results suggest that exogenously imposed reforms may increase female competitive inclination, although they do not eliminate the gender gap in all cultural contexts. Potential confounding factors are minimised through random selection of subjects from the same high school, resulting in similarity across ethnic groups in demographics, socio-economic status and academic performance.

Date: 2019
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