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Gender Performance Gaps: Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Role of Gender Differences in Sleep Cycles

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  • Lusher, Lester

    (University of Pittsburgh)

  • Yasenov, Vasil

    (Stanford University)

Abstract

Sleep studies suggest that girls go to sleep earlier, are more active in the morning, and cope with sleep deprivation better than boys. We provide the first causal evidence on how gender differences in sleep cycles can help explain the gender performance gap. We exploit over 240,000 assignment-level grades from a quasi-experiment with a community of middle and high schools where students' schedules alternated between morning and afternoon start times each month. Relative to girls, we find that boys' achievement benefits from a later start time. For classes taught at the beginning of the school day, our estimates explain up to 16% of the gender performance gap.

Suggested Citation

  • Lusher, Lester & Yasenov, Vasil, 2016. "Gender Performance Gaps: Quasi-Experimental Evidence on the Role of Gender Differences in Sleep Cycles," IZA Discussion Papers 10012, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Scott E. Carrell & Marianne E. Page & James E. West, 2010. "Sex and Science: How Professor Gender Perpetuates the Gender Gap," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(3), pages 1101-1144.
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    10. Lusher, Lester & Yasenov, Vasil, 2016. "Double-shift schooling and student success: Quasi-experimental evidence from Europe," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 36-39.
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    12. Holmlund, Helena & Sund, Krister, 2008. "Is the gender gap in school performance affected by the sex of the teacher," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 37-53, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Groen, Jeffrey A. & Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff, 2019. "Snooze or lose: High school start times and academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 204-218.
    2. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Brinkman, Sally & Le, Huong Thu & Zubrick, Stephen R. & Mitrou, Francis, 2022. "Gender differences in time allocation contribute to differences in developmental outcomes in children and adolescents," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Luong, Phuc & Lusher, Lester & Yasenov, Vasil, 2017. "Sleep and Student Success: The Role of Regularity vs. Duration," IZA Discussion Papers 11079, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Lusher, Lester & Yasenov, Vasil & Luong, Phuc, 2019. "Does schedule irregularity affect productivity? Evidence from random assignment into college classes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 115-128.
    5. Lenard, Matthew & Morrill, Melinda Sandler & Westall, John, 2020. "High school start times and student achievement: Looking beyond test scores," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    6. Cobb-Clark, Deborah A., 2016. "Biology and Gender in the Labor Market," IZA Discussion Papers 10386, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Williams, Kevin M. & Shapiro, Teny Maghakian, 2018. "Academic achievement across the day: Evidence from randomized class schedules," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 158-170.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender difference in sleep cycles; gender performance gap; school start time;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H52 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Government Expenditures and Education
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

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