Gender, Competitiveness, and Study Choices in High School: Evidence from Switzerland

Thomas Buser; Noemi Peter; Stefan C. Wolter

doi:10.1257/aer.p20171017

Gender, Competitiveness, and Study Choices in High School: Evidence from Switzerland

Thomas Buser¹; Noemi Peter²; Stefan C. Wolter³

¹ University of Amsterdam, PO Box 15867, 1001 NJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands (e-mail: ) · ² University of Groningen, Faculty of Economics and Business, PO Box 800, 9700AV Groningen, The Netherlands (e-mail: ) · ³ University of Bern, Department of Economics, Schanzeneckstrasse 1, Postfach 8573, 3001 Bern, Switzerland (e-mail: )

American Economic Review 2017 open access

Willingness to compete has been found to predict individual and gender differences in educational choices and labor market outcomes. We provide further evidence for this relationship by linking Swiss students' Baccalaureate school (high school) specialization choices to an experimental measure of willingness to compete. Boys are more likely to specialize in math in Baccalaureate school. In line with previous findings, competitive students are more likely to choose a math specialization. Boys are more likely to opt for competition than girls and this gender difference in competitiveness could partially explain why girls are less likely to choose a math-intensive specialization.

DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171017
Volume: 107 (5)
Pages: 125-130
Language: en
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