What Explains the Gender Gap Reversal in Education? Theory and Evidence
The gender gap reversal in educational attainment is ubiquitous in high-income countries, as well as in a growing share of low- and middle-income countries. To account for the reversal, this paper proposes a theoretical framework in which the inter...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/659501516200427470/What-explains-the-gender-gap-reversal-in-education-the-role-of-the-tail-hypothesis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29213 |
| Summary: | The gender gap reversal in educational
attainment is ubiquitous in high-income countries, as well
as in a growing share of low- and middle-income countries.
To account for the reversal, this paper proposes a
theoretical framework in which the interplay between the
distributions of academic aptitudes and changes in the net
benefits of schooling over time affect the gender
composition of those getting more schooling. The framework
is used to formulate and test alternative hypotheses to
explain the reversal. The paper introduces the tail dynamics
hypothesis, which builds on the lower dispersion of academic
achievement among females observed empirically. It also
studies the mean dynamics hypothesis, which is based on
previous literature. Both hypotheses can explain the
reversal in this framework. However, the assumption behind
the tail hypothesis is better supported by the data. Its
predictions are also consistent with gender differences in
Scholastic Achievement Test score dynamics and in
international test score distributions that cannot be
explained by previous theories. |
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