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American Economic Review Vol. 106 No. 5 2016

School Quality and the Gender Gap in Educational Achievement

David Autor1; David Figlio2; Krzysztof Karbownik3; Jeffrey Roth4; Melanie Wasserman5

1 MIT, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142, and NBER (e-mail: ) · 2 Northwestern, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208, and NBER (e-mail: ) · 3 Northwestern, 2040 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 (e-mail: ) · 4 University of Florida, 1701 SW 16th Avenue, Gainesville, FL 32608 (e-mail: ) · 5 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 50 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142 (e-mail: )

open access

Abstract

Recent evidence indicates that boys and girls are differently affected by the quantity and quality of family inputs received in childhood. We assess whether this is also true for schooling inputs. Using matched Florida birth and school administrative records, we estimate the causal effect of school quality on the gender gap in educational outcomes by contrasting opposite-sex siblings who attend the same sets of schools--thereby purging family heterogeneity--and leveraging within-family variation in school quality arising from family moves. Investigating middle school test scores, absences and suspensions, we find that boys benefit more than girls from cumulative exposure to higher quality schools.

DOI
10.1257/aer.p20161074
Volume
106
Issue
5
Pages
289-295
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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