Information-Optional Policies and the Gender Concealment Gap

Christine L. Exley, Raymond Fisman, Judd B. Kessler, Louis-Pierre Lepage, Xiaomeng Li, Corinne Low, Xiaoyue Shan, Mattie Toma and Basit Zafar

No 32350, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We analyze data from two universities that allowed students to replace a letter grade with “credit” on their transcript. At both schools, we observe a significant and substantial gender concealment gap: women are less likely than men to conceal grades, particularly grades that would harm their GPA. This gender concealment gap produces differential GPA gains from the policy with men benefiting nearly 50% more than women. Additional complementary data, including surveys and experiments with students and employers, suggest why women may conceal less: women may expect observers to have more negative inferences about their concealed grades.

JEL-codes: D82 J16 J71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gen and nep-lab
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