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The origins of gender differences in competitiveness and earnings expectations: Causal evidence from a mentoring intervention

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  • Falk, Armin
  • Boneva, Teodora
  • ,
  • Kosse, Fabian

Abstract

We present evidence on the role of the social environment for the development of gender differences in competitiveness and earnings expectations. First, we document that the gender gap in competitiveness and earnings expectations is more pronounced among adolescents with low socioeconomic status (SES). We further document that there is a positive association between the competitiveness of mothers and their daughters, but not between the competitiveness of mothers and their sons. Second, we show that a randomized mentoring intervention that exposes low-SES children to predominantly female role models causally affects girls' willingness to compete and narrows both the gender gap in competitiveness as well as the gender gap in earnings expectations. Together, the results highlight the importance of the social environment in shaping willingness to compete and earnings expectations at a young age.

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  • Falk, Armin & Boneva, Teodora & , & Kosse, Fabian, 2022. "The origins of gender differences in competitiveness and earnings expectations: Causal evidence from a mentoring intervention," CEPR Discussion Papers 17008, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:17008
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    Cited by:

    1. Leibing, Andreas & Peter, Frauke & Waights, Sevrin & Spiess, C. Katharina, 2023. "Gender gaps in early wage expectations," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    2. Lukas Kiessling & Pia Pinger & Philipp Seegers & Jan Bergerhoff, 2023. "Gender Differences in Wage Expectations and Negotiation," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 268, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    3. Rustamdjan Hakimov & Renke Schmacker & Camille Terrier, 2023. "Confidence and College Applications: Evidence from a Randomized Intervention," Working Papers 962, Queen Mary University of London, School of Economics and Finance.
    4. Thomas Buser & Noemi Peter & Stefan C. Wolter, 2022. "Willingness to compete, gender and career choices along the whole ability distribution," Experimental Economics, Springer;Economic Science Association, vol. 25(5), pages 1299-1326, November.
    5. Pamela Giustinelli, 2022. "Expectations in Education: Framework, Elicitation, and Evidence," Working Papers 2022-026, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    6. Thomas Buser & Hessel Oosterbeek, "undated". "The anatomy of competitiveness," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 23-031/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    7. Hakimov, Rustamdjan & Schmacker, Renke & Terrier, Camille, 2022. "Confidence and college applications: Evidence from a randomized intervention," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Behavior SP II 2022-209, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    8. Zölitz, Ulf & Shan, Xiaoyue, 2022. "Peers Affect Personality Development," CEPR Discussion Papers 17241, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Lukas Kiessling & Pia Pinger & Philipp Seegers & Jan Bergerhoff, 2024. "Gender Differences in Wage Expectations and Negotiation," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2024_496, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    10. Lukas Kiessling & Pia Pinger & Philipp Seegers & Jan Bergerhoff, 2023. "Gender Differences in Wage Expectations and Negotiation," CESifo Working Paper Series 10838, CESifo.
    11. Katharina Brütt & Huaiping Yuan, 2022. "Pitfalls of pay transparency: Evidence from the lab and the field," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-055/I, Tinbergen Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Competitiveness; Gender; Socioeconomic status; Inequality; Earnings expectations;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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