Express 04: Gender, Competitiveness, and Career Choices

This is a recently published paper (QJE, online by May 2014). By conducting experiments among secondary school students in the Netherlands, the authors investigate whether gender difference in competitiveness contributes to gender difference in track choice. They find that boys are more competitive and conditional on academic ability boys choose substantially more prestigious academic tracks (more math and science intensive). The gender difference in competitiveness accounts for 20% of the gender difference in track choice.
Authors: Thomas Buser, Muriel Niederle, Hessel Oosterbeek
Link:  http://web.stanford.edu/~niederle/BNO.QJE.pdf