The title of talk is: Gender Differences in Early Educational Choices: The Case of Mathematical Olympiad Participants

Abstract: Gender differences in preferences and beliefs at high school and university levels have been identified as the main factor explaining low participation of women in science. However, little is known whether these differences are induced at earlier ages and how. In this paper, I aim to explain this issue by studying gender differences in early school choices based on data of mathematical Olympiad’s participants in Slovakia. In particular, I use Olympiad’s awards as an external signal of talent that drives the decision to move a 6th grade child from a regular elementary school to a selective school. To establish causality, I exploit discontinuities in the award function in order to estimate the effect of receiving an award at 5th grade on the probability of moving from a regular to a selective school the year after, and to inspect whether this effect is different for girls and boys.

The weekly CAGE-AMES workshops are via Microsoft Teams on this link for the entire term.