Performance in Mixed-Sex and Single-Sex Tournaments: What We Can Learn from Speedboat Races in Japan

Alison Booth and Eiji Yamamura ()

No 10384, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In speedboat racing in Japan, women racers participate and compete in races under the same conditions as men, and all individuals are randomly assigned to mixed-gender or single-gender groups for each race. In this paper we use a sample of over 140,000 observations of individual-level racing records provided by the Japanese Speedboat Racing Association to examine how male-dominated circumstances affect women's racing performance. We control for individual fixed-effects plus a host of other factors affecting performance (such as starting lane, fitness and weather conditions). Our estimates reveal that women's race-time is slower in mixed-gender races than in all-women races, whereas men racer's time is faster in mixed-gender races than men-only races. In mixed-gender races, male racers are found to be more 'aggressive' – as proxied by lane-changing – in spite of the risk of being penalized if they contravene the rules, whereas women follow less aggressive strategies. We find no difference in disqualifications between genders. We suggest that gender-differences in risk-attitudes and over-confidence may result in different responses to the competitive environment and penalties for rule-breaking, and that gender-identity also plays a role.

Keywords: women's labor participation; tournaments; gender and competition; peer effects; gender identity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J16 L83 M5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 46 pages
Date: 2016-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen and nep-spo
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published - published in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2018, 100 (4), 581 - 593

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Related works:
Working Paper: Performance in Mixed-sex and Single-sex Tournaments: What We Can Learn from Speedboat Races in Japan (2016)
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