Gender differences in repeated competition: Evidence from school math contests

The literature shows that males react more favorably than females to competitive incentives. This well-known result, however, is based on experiments in which participants engage in only a one-shot contest. We conduct a series of math contests in elementary schools which are similar to past experiments except for one notable exception: subjects compete in five sequential contests, rather than a one-shot contest typically used. Although males outperform females in the first period contest, we find no evidence of a male advantage in subsequent periods. Females even outperform males in later periods. The data suggests that the relative overperformance of low-ability males and the underperformance of high-ability females are primarily responsible for the first period results. Additionally, even the first period male advantage disappears when we reduce the time pressure or change the task at hand.

► We host a series of real-effort math contests to assess gender differences in performance in competitive environments. ► Unlike other gender differences experiments, we repeat treatments multiple times with the same subjects. ► Consistent with past studies we find that males outperform females of similar ability during the first period of competitions. ► The male advantage is not found in any subsequent period, and females even outperform males in later periods.