Comparative Advantage and Gender Gap in STEM
Sofoklis Goulas,
Silvia Griselda and
Rigissa Megalokonomou
Journal of Human Resources, 2024, vol. 59, issue 6, 1937-1980
Abstract:
Why are females, compared with males, both more likely to have strong STEM‐related performance and less likely to enter a STEM field later on? We exploit random classroom assignment to identify the impact of comparative STEM advantage on specialization decisions. Comparative STEM advantage is proxied by the within‐classroom ranking of the ratio of STEM over non‐STEM performance. We find that females with a higher comparative STEM advantage are more likely to choose a STEM school track and apply for a STEM degree. Comparative STEM advantage explains 12 percent of the underrepresentation of qualified females in the earliest instance of STEM specialization.
JEL-codes: I21 I24 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
Note: DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0320-10781R2
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/59/6/1937
A subscription is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.
Related works:
Working Paper: Comparative Advantage and Gender Gap in STEM (2020) 
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:59:y:2024:i:6:p:1937-1980
Access Statistics for this article
More articles in Journal of Human Resources from University of Wisconsin Press
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().