The gender gap in discouragement: Evidence from the Abel Competition

Abstract

In this thesis I investigate the gender gap in the discouragement effect of losing. I analyse data from the Abel competition, which is an advanced mathematical competition for upper secondary students in Norway. Girls have a lower participation rate than boys and perform significantly worse conditional on participating. To study the gender gap in discouragement, I rely on the multi- round structure of the Abel competition, where each upper secondary student can participate for a maximum of three consecutive years. Using a regression discontinuity design, I estimate the treatment effect of advancing to the second round of the competition on the probability of participating the following year. My results provide evidence of a positive and statistically significant treatment effect for girls, but not for boys. These results imply the existence of a gender gap in discouragement.